A Deadly Phobia
by BnBfanatic
Summary: My most recent new story/team fic. Will Tony's phobia of Dentist's turn out to be nothing? Or will it turn into a deadly fight for his life and maybe even the lives of some of his team? Read & see!
1. Interrogated by Ziva

_**A/N - Oh my gosh what am I doing? **I must be insane to write another NCIS story when I am still in the middle of writing 3 other ones still going AND a Bones fic. I promise that I won't let this new story get in the way of my updating the other ones. I just came up with this story and had to pursue it. This is actually my first fic NOT based on an actual episode – even though this chapter is more humorous than anything, it's definitely going to get more dangerous and intense for Tony and possibly other team members. As with all my stories I will have lots of Tony whump but others may get hurt as well along the way. This won't be as long as my other ongoing fics – maybe ten chapters total. Pls review and let me know how you like it so far. **~BnBfanatic~**_

**A Deadly Phobia**

_**Scene One**_

Tony was cranky starting nearly the very moment he woke up - worsening so much during his morning commute into work that by the time he came out of the elevator and sauntered into the bullpen, he was downright cantankerous!

"Good morning Tony." came the unusually sing song-y voice of his all too happy partner before he had even sat down. Looking up at her in the midst of putting his gun and badge into his top desk drawer he shot her his best impression of the 'Gibbs' glare' that he could muster.

"Is it?" he finally answered.

"Geez Tony, d'you have trouble uh – _performing_ on your hot date last night er somethin'?" McGee said as he joined the conversation.

Tony's glare shifted away from Ziva and became even more deadly when he slowly turned his attention to McGee. "Excuuse me my confused little probie, but I have never . . . EV-er had that problem. You must be confusing me with someone else . . . oh _**I**_ knowww-who, maybe your**self**!" he said, feeling better for the moment as the cleverness of his own come back. Then he winced just slightly but unfortunately for him, it wasn't slight enough for his two eagle eye partners to miss.

"Ohh-hh haha." Ziva jumped on the opportunity to harass him about the wince. "Is that a hangover that is causing you pain Tony? Perhaps a headache caused by over indulging? Maybe you are right McGee! After all, every woman knows the affect that too much alcohol can have one a man's ability to . . . perform. Hahaha."

"Hung over DiNozzo?"

All three of the agents froze in place at the booming sound of their boss who seemed to be as cranky as Tony was.

"Uh, no boss. You know I never have more than a couple a beers on a school night. The uh, the probie's were just speculating . . ." he explained – then shooting a dirty look back and forth at his partners he added, "Very **badly!**"

"Alright then – grab yer gear! Dead Sergeant – Quantico." Gibbs was used to his team fighting like siblings, but another thing he knew for sure was when Tony said he never drank on a work night, he was telling the truth. As juvenile and carefree as he wanted everyone to think he was, Gibbs knew that a lot of it was merely a cover. He took his job more seriously than anyone – sometimes even more so than Gibbs himself.

Tony rolled his eyes at the thought of having to deal with a case when he already felt so poorly. Pulling his gun back out of his drawer, he sluggishly dropped it into his shoulder holster and leaned down to grab his back pack, wincing again as blood rushed to his face causing the severely painful toothache he had woken up with, to throb mercilessly. This time to his relief, no one saw the grimace.

**. . . Three Hours Later . . .**

Walking back into the bullpen after doing what they did best and processing the crime scene with well rehearsed proficiency, Tony felt exhausted as he dropped his stuff off at his desk and immediately headed towards the men's room. His toothache had expanded it's territory and was now taking up residence in his entire jaw as well. He wanted to just splash ice cold water hoping if he splashed enough he could somehow numb his face for a minute. Leaning down he filled his hands with as much of the ice cold liquid that he could hold, throwing it back into his face and keeping his head down to allow the dripping water to land back down into the sink. After doing the same thing three more times while keeping his eyes closed to protect them from the water, he finally raised his head up to look in the mirror.

But the **last **thing he expected to see along with own reflection, was the looming face of Ziva as she stood too closely behind him – watching him through his reflection in the mirror.

"GEEZUS! - Dammit ZIVA! You trying to gimme a heart attack? What the hell are you doin' in here anyway? " he retaliated, but then before she had a chance to answer he continued, "Ya know, you need counseling! You_ really_ do!". His heart still beating in his throat from the scare, also causing enough of an increase in his blood pressure to cause his jaw to throb even harder and again eliciting a wince and a moad from him before he could stop it. _'So much for the cold water_' he thought to himself.

"Ah-ha! There it is again! I saw you wince earlier which raised my suspicions, so I watched you all morning waiting to see if you did it again or if perhaps it was a once time thing. Now I've got you!"

Tony had already turned around while she spoke so they were now standing face to face He kept his facial expression as cool as possible, grinning slightly to make her think she was over reacting.

"There's no way you can hide from me now Tony – I know what I saw – and the moan-nn you added! Haha-ha! That was priceless! Now you can't deny that you are hurting – yes?" then before he could stop her she reached out and placed her hand onto the side of his face, pinching his cheek roughly.

"So what is it Tony? You can tell m-" she started trying to get a confession out of him while reaching out to pinch his cheek in jest. But the look of sheer agony that came over his face as she was pinching him stopped her in her tracks!

"OOWWW!" Dammit Ziva!" Tony's hand quickly shot up to rub his sore cheek, opening and closing his mouth as if she had punched him. He bent over slightly with his eyes squeezed tightly shut in pain.

"Oh my gosh Tony what is it? I barely touched you!" Ziva's hand grabbed his shoulder lightly as she tried to get him to talk to her. She felt terrible now, what started out as fun teasing which they both enjoyed doing to each other, wasn't so fun anymore as her mocking turned into genuine concern.

Tony stood back upright, still holding his hand against his throbbing cheek and trying to think of how he could get out of this mess - avoid telling her the truth. But the minute he saw the look of genuine empathy and worry in her eyes his resolved started to weaken. "It's nothing Ziva! Just leave it be, please?" he made on last attempt to convince her he was fine.

"Tony, it is obvious you are in pain. I know you are trying hard to hide it from everyone but, you are not succeeding so why don't you just give it up already. I promise I won't tell Gibbs . . . or Ducky if you just trust me." She softened her look and her touch, her hand still laying gently on his shoulder. "Look Ziva, it's not about trust okay? I do trust you and I appreciate your concern but it's ridiculous because I'm fine! It's just . . . it's just a little toothache. Okay? There, I told you – are you happy now?"

She had to force herself not to laugh at him, "What? A toothache? That's it?" she then did laugh as she couldn't contain herself any longer.

"Look it's not funny! I thought it would just go away and it just keeps getting worse."

"Well Tony, I'm only laughing because all you have to do is go to the Dentist! It's not like you're going to the hospital to have a bullet removed, it's a TOOTH for peak safe."

"The term is PETE'S SAKE Ziva. SAKE!" he corrected her misuse of yet another idiom. The longer he worked with her the less patience he had when she did that and even though arguing was only making his jaw throb worse, he couldn't stop himself. "I mean what the hell does 'PEAK SAFE' even mean anyway? That is hands down the worst idiom you've messed up by far."

"Well it makes more sense than Pete's sake! I mean who the hell is this 'Pete' person in the first place? I like my term better, peak safe has more to do with your well being than that of some stranger named Pete!" she argued. "Wait a second. I know what you are doing. You are trying to change the subject Tony and it's not going to work." then it dawned on her, "Wait a minute . . . ohh-hohh, you're not afraid of the Dentist are you Tony?"

Seeing his wide eyed response as if he was caught doing something naughty, confirmed her suspicion. "Ahh-ha! You ARE! Hahaha oh this is **priceless**! Big macho tough guy Agent Tony DiNozzo is afraid of a little ole Dentist!"

"Okay very funny, you've had your little laugh of the day at my expense. This conversation is over. You can think what you want, I'm leaving before Gibbs comes in here to personally escort both of us back to work!" he shook off her hand and headed toward the exit. Ziva decided to let it be for now. She would approach him after work and offer to come with him. Even though she was laughing at his predicament, she did care about him and it pained her more to see _him_ hurting, than if she herself had been the one physically hurting.

The rest of the afternoon was business as usual with the exception of Tony trying to think of a reason for not eating when they ordered in lunch so they could keep working on the case per Gibbs' orders. Tony glared at Ziva after he made up an excuse that he was trying to lose a few pounds, almost daring her to tell everyone about his tooth and blow his cover. Gibbs had seen the entire scene out of the corner of his eye, something was up. He had seen almost every grimace that Tony had let slip and even an occasional moan when he thought no one was around. Now apparently Ziva was covering for him too.

But he would get to the bottom of their charade sooner or later and they would both be sore from the head slaps that would be getting for their secrecy.


	2. Recognition

_**A/N -** _Here's the next chapter since I at least want to get to the meat of the story as soon as possible. I do want to re-assure anyone reading my other stories that I am not going to let this new fic delay my updates to my other fics. I am close to updating both my Bones fic (Mistaken Identity) and then my NCIS fic (Consequences Of The Truth). Please review this one in the mean time so I know how it's being received. Thanks! I will correct any missed errors later as always - just wanted to get posted asap!

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

_The rest of the afternoon was business as usual with the exception of Tony trying to think of a reason for not eating when they ordered in lunch so they could keep working on the case per Gibbs' orders. Tony glared at Ziva after he made up an excuse that he was trying to lose a few pounds, almost daring her to tell everyone about his tooth and blow his cover. Gibbs had seen the entire scene out of the corner of his eye, something was up. He had seen almost every grimace that Tony had let slip and even an occasional moan when he thought no one was around. Now apparently Ziva was covering for him too._

_But he would get to the bottom of their charade sooner or later and they would both be sore from the head slaps that would be getting for their secrecy._

**A Deadly Phobia**

_**Scene Two**_

Finally after what seemed like an eighteen hour day rather than just their usual ten, Tony dragged himself towards the elevator wondering how a little thing like a toothache could make him feel so lousy. What he didn't realize was that what started out as a normal toothache with a hint of inflammation – through the course of their busy day had started to abscess.

Inside the confines of the elevator he leaned his body back against the back wall, his head falling forward planning to just rest for the short two minute ride to the parking garage level. But then just as the doors of the elevator started to close suddenly a small hand jutted in between the closing doors stopping them from meeting in the middle. Pushing the doors back open – Ziva jumped inside the box along with him. She was so quick that she was able to catch sight of her partner's exhausted stance and the way his head was down, chin resting on his chest. Tony obviously hadn't been expecting company, especially since he had made sure to sneak out after he had been sure she had gone to the restroom.

His head popped back up once he realized who had just hijacked his ride, apparently she hadn't been in the restroom he realized - she had tricked him.

"Ziva what the hell? That makes **twice** in one day you ss -" he stopped himself before he said something he would have quickly regretted.

_**"What Tony? Please, continue . . . twice in one day that I did what? That I sc-a-ared you? Haha Is that what you were going to say?" by now she had moved in closer, definitely entering his personal space as she now stood less than a foot away from him.**_

"No . . . **NO! **That's **not** what I was going to say Zee-vah. I uh . . . you just startled me that's all. No big deal." he was too tired to argue with her. All he needed to do was to fake it long enough to get to his own car and he could finally be rid of her. "Ah-ha, I see." she pretended to believe him but knowing she had more than startled him the way his breathing had increased – his chest rising and falling faster than it usually was. '_damn he has a nice chest.' _she thought to herself. _'Okay Ziva stop it. He's your partner and nothing can happen.'_

Moving to stand right beside him against the rear wall of the elevator - so close that her shoulders were touching his, she looked at him just as he let his head drop back against the cool metal wall and closed his eyes. She couldn't help but wonder if he was doing that so he could pretend she wasn't there. Standing upright again she moved forward, reaching for the infamous shut off button, halting the elevator in between floors just in time, they only had one floor left to go before reaching their destination.

Once she resumed her previous position right next to him and he was now looking over at her in frustration, she lowered her voice, using a softer tone she confronted him again but with more understanding this time. "Tony. Seriously now – you should at least let me just look at your tooth to see how bad it looks. I mean maybe you don't even need to see a dentist. Maybe it's not even that bad and you can just gargle with salt water or something."

"What? Now where the hell would you have learned something like that Ziva?" he had almost forgotten they were holding up the elevator from all of the other employees most likely trying to leave for the day. He knew her well enough to know that she would not let this rest until he agreed to something. This wasn't the first time they were in this type of situation and he knew that if the tables were turned – that he would have done the same thing.

"That is not important right now Tony – all I will say is that I have lived in America for years now. You don't think I see a dentist now and then myself? What do you think I am - some kind of . . . robot?" she smiled and nudged his shoulder with her own. It always amazed her how he sometimes spoke of her as if she were some kind of female super hero. She would never admit it to him but, she found it so charming and sexy that he thought of her that way. As if she could accomplish anything.

"So . . . if I let you look at it – will you let me go and stop harassing me?" he finally conceded, knowing it would be the only way to end this conversation as quickly as possible.

"Okay, it's a deal." she smiled over her win and moved to in front of him again, facing him. As he started to open his mouth, ignoring the pain it caused his jaw on one side, she reached forward and gently tipped his head back to allow what little light was still in the elevator, to give her a better view. She had already figured out which side of his mouth the nagging tooth was on simply by observing him all day and seeing him holding the right side of his face when he thought no one was watching. Similar to what Gibbs had been doing – also watching Tony though unbeknown to her.

As she looked inside she lowered one of her hands to rest on the side of his face, holding the lower half of his jaw to get a better angle. "AAAHHOWW!"

He yelped with a higher pitch to his voice than she had ever heard him use. Dropping her hand away from his face she quickly apologized and when he tried to shy away and move she stepped on his foot to hold him in place with her other leg bent at the knee placing it in a very dangerous position. "Tony if you don't stop fidgeting, I will give you a pain that will make your little toothache seem like pleasure!"

Tony immediately froze in place once he noticed the precarious position of her knee – hovering just below his groin. Now holding his breath, he let her continue with her inspection.

"Oooh . . . _~hissing~ . . . _Gosh uh . . . sorry Tony but that _does _look painful." she let go of his head and backed up so she was a foot away again. "Sorry but – that is definitely infected Tony. I still think you better go see a Dentist before it gets any worse."

As he let out the breath he had been holding he found himself feeling a little turned on by, not only the forcefulness she had used to get him to stay still, but also the tender almost caring way she spoke to him now. He felt his face getting hotter, reaching up he loosened his tie. "Okay Dr. Da-veed. I will consider that option."

he then quickly moved forward and restarted the elevator. "Now, we had a deal. I'm outta here."

By then the doors had finally opened allowing him to finally escape it's confines, heading towards his car he realized she was still hot on his trail. Stopping in place he felt her soft body smashing into his backside, having stopped so abruptly while she was following far too closely, she couldn't help but collide.

"Ooophh" she felt her body slamming right into his as he stopped in his tracks. Backing up she continued ragging on him, determined to get him to promise to make an appointment. But she also had wanted to offer to go with him so she was going to follow him right into his car if necessary!

"Zivaaa!" he yelled without even turning around. "I thought we had a deal. What – are – you – doing?"

Running around him until she was facing him again she explained, "Yes – we did have a deal but . . . well I just wanted to tell you that I would come with you. To the Dentist . . . you know, for uh – moral support – yes?"

She thought that's what they called it, when you help someone go through something even though you don't have to.

To say he was shocked by the offer would have been the understatement of the year! It warmed his heart to see her so . . . helpful. It was just so rare that she let that side show that he was taken aback whenever she did. "Okay, I'll think about it alright? I will call a Dentist tomorrow and I will _'consider' l_etting you come. Now I'm sorry that's the best I can do – take it, or _leave_ it."

"Okay Tony, I shall - _take_ it. Now go home and put some ice on your cheek. Trust me, it will help ease the pain and the swelling a little." she leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his sore cheek, barely touching it so as not to cause him more pain. Then she left him there in stunned silence and headed towards her own car.

Tony walked the rest of the way to his car like a zombie. '_What just happened back there_' he thought, '_Did she just kiss me?' _he brought his hand up and carefully laid it on top of the spot she had kissed. Wow, talk about kissing it to make it better – he swore it didn't feel as sore now. What he didn't know was that the only reason he felt less pain after the simple action of Ziva's kiss – was merely due to his endorphins that had skyrocketed right after she kissed him. He had already been turned on by her attitude in the elevator, and even more so when he felt the soft curves of her body as she crashed up against him when he had stopped, the kiss had simply put him over the top to where he now felt almost giddy.

_**The Next Morning At 0715 Hours – The Bullpen . . .**_

Tony had arrived at work at least a twenty minutes ahead of his partners for a after a very restless night left him even more exhausted than the day before after only managing to get no more than 4 hours of actual sleep. He had laid in bed trying to sleep for at least an hour but kept awake by the now severe throbbing and worsening pain in the right side of his face. Finally getting up to retrieve an ice pack from his freezer, having plenty in stock from the many injuries he had received in his past, as he decided to try the advice his partner had given him. Although he had no intention of ever telling _her_ that! It had actually worked long enough to allow his body to succumb to his only restful sleep of the night, for an hour at least.

Eventually he woke up again around midnight as the pain came back with a vengeance. The rest of the night only consisted of light dozing off and on until he finally gave in, getting up for good at 4:15 am when his stomach joined in on the symphony, grumbling loudly as he realized he had barely eaten anything the previous day, he just couldn't think of anything that sounded good that would not require chewing and moving his jaw. Not even soup would have worked since anything hot or cold only worsened his agony and he didn't care _how_ hungry he became – he was **not** going to eat room temperature soup! "Man, it's going to be another lo-onng day!' he said out loud to no one.

Gibbs was the first to arrive at the office after Tony, entering the bullpen just after 0730. After getting over his initial surprise at seeing his senior agent there before anyone else when he typically arrived at least 5 minutes late, the very next thing to catch his attention was the pale complexion minus the dark circles that filled in the area underneath the man's eyes – which only managed to make his too white pallor stand out even more.

Walking past Tony Gibbs walked silently to his own desk. "Morning boss." Tony greeted him, his voice not as energetic a usual.

After waiting another minute trying to decide how to approach his agent Gibbs finally spoke, "Care to tell me why my senior agent looks like he pulled an all-nighter for the second day in a row?" he never even looked up at Tony while speaking, he merely put his gun and badge away and turned towards his computer.

"Uuh . . . I don't know what you talking abou- . . . er, I uhm -" he was too caught off guard to think of a come back and thankfully stopped himself before he finished a sentence that would have essentially implied that his boss was wron . . . mistaken. Even though he _was _wrong, Tony knew better than to point it out!

"Cat got yer tongue DiNozzo?"

"No boss. Jus' didn't sleep well last night that's all."

Gibbs pushed his chair back, stood up and walked over to stop in front of Tony's desk. "Alright Tony, let's pretend for a minute that I believe you – why? What kept you up all night – or do I wanna know?" he added, knowing his agent's reputation for having more flings than a paid gigolo.

" 'S nothin' boss – really. I just ate something that didn't agree with me. You know me – I'll eat just about anything - only sometimes I pay for it later – know what I mean?" he lied. How could he do that? '_You just lied right to your bosses' face!'_ he reprimanded himself. This was not good.

"Yeah?" Gibbs replied, noticing the way Tony's eyes shifted up and to the left just like Ziva had taught them someone usually does when they are not telling the truth.

"Well, you must've been hungry after not eating lunch. What happened to your uh – diet plans?" Gibbs grilled him further, mainly wanting to let him know he wasn't so easily fooled.

"Uh, well . . . when have you ever known me to stick to anything like that for very long? I guess I'll just have to settle for keeping the extra pounds.

"Uh-huh." was the only response he received from the man he looked up to more than anyone.

"I'll be in MTAC – call me if we get any dead bodies." and with that Tony watched Gibbs walk away and up the stairs. Letting out the breath he didn't know he was even holding he sagged against his chair in relief. Damn that whole conversation had really taken it out of him, he felt even worse having lied like he did. All of this over a dang tooth! He thought in disbelief until he was interrupted by another voice, looking up he realized Ziva had walked up to his desk and had said something to him. He stared up at her trying to figure out what she asked him.

"You look like something the cat stepped in." she added, letting her first question of whether he was feeling better, go unanswered.

"It's '**dragged** in' Ziva – something the cat _**dragged**_ in!" he glared up at her, not in the mood to have this conversation with her.

"Well whatever – I think stepped in is more appropriate considering how you look right now." she explained. "Did you even _sleep_ last night Tony?"

"Okay Ziva, here's how it's gonna be today – you are going to drop this line of questioning and we are not going to discuss it again. I already looked up some dentist's this morning and I already made an appointment. So **you** have no reason to bug me about it any longer. Capiche?" he concluded in Italian.

"Wow, that is very mature of you Tony, you are actually taking my advice for a change. I'm flattered."

"Well don't be. I just wanted to prove to you that I am NOT afraid of something so ridiculous as a dentist! Conversation over." he turned back to his computer and with one hand he picked up his phone to check his voice messages and making it clear to her that he was done talking about it.

Smiling while walking back to her desk, knowing he couldn't see her grin because her back was turned – thrilled that she had just succeeded in getting him to go to the dentist simply by using reverse psychology. It had worked like a charm and she knew he would never let himself appear weak enough to even ask her to come with him, she didn't care, all that mattered was that he would be taken care of before the infection spread any further. She knew firsthand what kind of damage that could cause one's body since during her childhood she had lost her favorite uncle to that very thing. What had started out as an abscess tooth had ended up resulting in his heart being damaged as the infection spread because back then in Israel, no one could afford the luxury of dental care, hell she didn't even know if they had dentists since it wasn't until she had gotten into her late teens that she had first even heard of them.

_**4 Hours Later – Tony's Car En Route to the Dentist's Office . . .**_

Finally he was on his way and this nightmare and awful pain would soon be treated and over with. He couldn't help but notice that his palms were getting more sweaty on the steering wheel the closer he got to his destination.

Luckily he had found the dentist fairly easily simply by doing a search using an online phone directory, purposely searching only for dental offices that were located no more than 5 miles from the Navy shipyard where the NCIS office was based. Using a phone in one of the vacant NCIS conference rooms when he got to the office well ahead of the rest of his team, he didn't want to take the chance that one of them might arrive early as well and overhear him on his desk phone. He ended up having to call quite a few offices before finally finding one that could get him in around the time the team usually took their lunch hour (unless they were already out on a case) - he thought that time would be best since he wouldn't have to tell Gibbs where he was going. He planned to just tell them he had lunch plans with an old frat brother if anyone asked.

Michael Kincaid was the one – and he wasn't just a dentist either, he was also licensed as a DDS, which Tony had looked up and had found that it stood for Doctorate of Dental Surgery specializing in oral and maxillofacial surgery. That sounded good enough to Tony since if he had to see a dentist, he definitely wanted one who knew what they were doing.

But since he hadn't been to the dentist since he was a Police Officer with Baltimore PD – he didn't realize that it wasn't a good sign if a Dentist was able to accommodate a new patient on the same day they called in. That typically meant that they had plenty of openings in their schedule due to lack of clientele. One reason for a dentist to be lacking in clientele, was the fact that they were not necessarily the best dentist around so most patients who tried him once, never went back after having such a bad experience either by not being numbed sufficiently before a procedure such as say, a root canal – or, they had immediately lost the filling or the crown that they had just received – sometimes caused by an action as little as just biting down on a soft sandwich.

Even if he had known, Tony wouldn't have cared. He just wanted to get the whole thing over with! He had a long time fear of dentists in general dating back to from one rather traumatic check up during his per-pubescent years.

Even though he had bucked up as an adult and tried to give dental treatment another try - that experience had come with new set up issues that only managed to exacerbate his phobia of the entire profession!

The most recent unnerving experience had occurred back when he worked as a Homicide Detective for the Baltimore PD. He had gone to see the same dentist that his partner at the time had suggested and had the unpleasant experience that is probably every patients worst fear – the feeling the drill cutting directly into his already sore gum line after the hand of his dentist had '_slipped'_ while drilling into his molar in preparation for a filling. The tiny but powerful drill had managed to slide off of the tough enamel and right into his gum line and no amount of numbing medication or nitric oxide would have been able to deaden the unexpected stabbing pain that seemed to jolt through his entire jawline.

It didn't help matters finding out the hard way that the area of gum line that had just been drilled into, was a portion of gum line that had NOT been numbed by the injection of Novocaine since the dentist had barely numbed the area directly surrounding the tooth he was working on. The one thing that freaked Tony out almost as much as the pain, was the surprising amount of blood the injury had produced which had immediately started running out of his mouth onto the pristine white bib he was thankfully forced to wear to protect his clothes. He cringed at the memory and had to force himself to shake it off and stop thinking about it before it caused him to bag this whole venture to a new dentist and just turn his car around and head back to the office!

_**Inside The Dental Clinic Across Town . . .**_

Dentist Michael Kincaid sat in his small office staring at the bills on the desk in front of him. When it came to the serious lack of funds to pay all the bills in front of him – his diminishing patient list was only partly to blame. Kincaid was also a problem gambler, having gambled more and more frequently as his practice had started to bring in less and less money – mainly due to the fact that the majority of his new patients never returned – not even for the free teeth cleaning that most insurance plans provided. It didn't take long before he ended up severely in debt after being forced to borrow from some not so nice people in order to continue his chase for his 'big win'! That was all he needed was to get a couple of big wins under his belt and everything would be fine.

While Tony was in the waiting room filling out some of the new patient forms, the doctor was in his office with two very muscular '_visitors_' who were there to pass on an important message from the leader of their 'organization' – the message was simple.

"Pay up within 24 hours Mis-ter Kincaid - or you just might find yourself having a serious _**accident**_!"

The threat was delivered in a loud, firm whisper by the larger of the two 'messengers' as the buff man had the small framed dentist pinned up against his bookshelf while holding him up by his meaty hand around the man's skinny neck. They kept just quiet enough to prevent anyone from hearing the conversation through the closed door and after making it clear just how much money the man needed to deliver they let him go and exited his office – leaving the shaky and frightened dentist to pull himself back together.

As Tony was walking up to the receptionist's desk to turn in his completed forms, when he had first stood up from his seat he felt a head rush caused by his blood sugar levels being much lower than normal caused by not eating much in over 24 hours. Shaking it off he continued forward until he was nearly trampled by a large man who came barreling out of the swinging door that led to where the patient's were taken for their dental care, but also typically where the office of the dentist himself presided. He caught himself before losing his balance again and after backing up to allow the men through he couldn't help but notice how the sizable men as they immediately slowed themselves down as if just realizing that their hasty behavior might appear suspicious to others.

Tony made eye contact with one of them before proceeding on his original mission to the front desk. He turned and watched the two men as they slowly walked the rest of the way across the long waiting room. They were smiling now as they moved but something about the whole thing seemed rather forced to tony - as if they were putting on some kind of front. His gut immediately tightened – something didn't look right but he couldn't put his finger on just what that might be. The men didn't look like they just had dental work and though he hadn't been to the dentist in a while, he hadn't recalled people going there - in _pairs!_

One of the men had made direct eye contact with Tony when they nearly collided with the man. The slight eyebrow raise that unfortunately went unnoticed by Tony, was the only indication from the shady man that would have alluded anyone to his immediate curiosity. He knew the well dressed man from somewhere – but where? His own gut told him it wasn't good – if he could just remember why!

Once he was outside and several feet from the entrance on the way to their vehicle – he suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Wait! Hold on a minute Cal!" he yelled to his partner who was only a couple of feet ahead of him. Cal turned around impatiently with a scowl on his face to emphasize his irritation over his partner's delay. "What the hell is it now Jesse? We don't have time for any more nonsense! We have to get back!" he was referring to the elaborate mansion that their boss ran his rather dangerous operations from, knowing there would be hell to pay if they were late in letting their boss know that his message had been delivered.

"Wait, just trust me, you're gonna wanna hear this - I promise! You know that man we nearly trampled in the waiting room just now?"

"Yeah, whatabout'im!"

"I just remembered where I saw him before! The man could be trouble Cal!

"Why, what's so damn special about 'im?" Cal impatiently demanded.

"He . . . he's a **Federal Agent!**"

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N -Please keep the reviews coming – especially since it's a new story I really want to know what you think so far! Thank you in advance for taking the time to review!**_


	3. Tony's Fate: Past & Present

_**WARNING: This chapter contains brief mention of child abuse and implied molestation. Skip the flashback scene if you don't want to read that part. I didn't give much detail on purpose so as not to make it too uncomfortable. **In this chapter we find out that there is a lot more behind Tony's phobia and that it actually stems all the way back to his rough childhood after the one person who protected him, his Mom – isn't alive to do that anymore. Please read and review and I thank all of you whom have taken time to do that already! _

_**A/N:** I also went back and fixed numerous spelling errors I had missed in the last chapter – sorry about that! I also apologize in advance for the few cuss words in this chapter. I just felt I had to write the thugs more realistic to character. I will proof this chapter again later as always._

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

_"Wait, just trust me, you're gonna wanna hear this - I promise! Ya know that man we nearly trampled in the waiting room just now?" Jesse tried to explain. __"Yeah, whatabout'm!" Cal replied, only half listening._

_"Well, I just remembered where __I saw him before and - that man could be trouble Cal!"_

"_Why, what's so damn special about 'im?" Cal impatiently demanded. __"He . . . he's a **Federal Agent!**"_

**_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**

**A Deadly Phobia**

_**Scene Three**_

_**Dentist's Office . . .11:44 am . . .**_

After turning in his new patient forms Tony went back to sitting in the waiting room, nervously anticipating the upcoming appointment that was looming ahead. While he waited nervously for his name to be called he looked around. There were only a few other people in the waiting room with him, there were a couple of children there waiting along with their Mom's - and a couple of other adults, all waiting for their own turn in the dental chair.

As Tony watched the kids play he wished he had the fearless, carefree nature they seemed to have – especially knowing they were on their way into see the dentist, these kids still seemed oblivious to what they were about to experience! Watching them caused Tony to think back to his own childhood, back to when his phobia first began since it hadn't always been that way.

Sure, he had that God-awful experience while working for the Baltimore PD when after getting into a fight with a suspect – he was left with a parting gift of some loose teeth. His partner at the time – a very good looking female with whom he had a bit of a crush on - convinced him to see her dentist just to make sure there was no permanent damage. He had agreed to go but only because he wanted her to look at him as a tough cop and telling her of his phobia would not help him accomplish that task. The appointment had started off normal enough and even pain free – until the man convinced him to just let him fix one small filling – and things just went downhill from there with the whole drunk dentist/drilled gum line fiasco.

But what no one knew - was that there _had_ been a time, when his Mother was still alive, that he actually had no qualms about going to the dentist to have his teeth checked or cleaned – in fact he even _liked_ his dentist because he was funny and kind, he always gave Tony extra free stuff like toothbrushes, stickers, floss and sugar free gum. Back then Tony thought going to the dentist was fun!

But that all changed after his Mom died shortly after his 9th birthday. After that, his 'too busy' Father didn't seem to care if he even went to the dentist. But that all changed about one year later when one of his most hated nannies - Evalita Martinez – had decided it was time for his overdue annual check up. But instead of taking him to the dentist that he _liked _even after he practically begged her to, she just ignored him and ended up taking him to some Spanish speaking older man who Tony later found out was related to her somehow and one thing Tony remembered was that the man's breath was hands down the worst breath Tony had ever smelled – which he found especially ironic considering the man was supposed to specialize in dental _hygiene_!

Evalita had lectured then 10 year old Tony throughout the entire drive over, preaching to him that he needed to grow up and act like a man, threatening to tell his Father if he wasn't good and did everything he was told to do by the dentist they were about to see. Tony decided right then he would do as he was told because if there was one threat that worked on him back then to keep him inline, it was the threat to tell his Father if he misbehaved because the wrath and beating he would experience if _that_ happened, would be worst than just seeing some old dentist! Or so he thought . . .

_**~Flashback~**_

_Tony was sitting in the dentist's chair while Evalita stayed in the waiting room which immediately made Tony miss his Mom even more since she always came with him into the dental office and stayed with him through his entire appointment. He felt even more frightened and alone when when the gruff female dental assistance whom was roughly in her 50's had buckled into the dental chair with some kind of seat belt that wrapped around his chest to keep him still - as if he was some three year old who might fall out. Tony's gut instinct immediately warned him that something wasn't right about the whole thing but since he was too young to really grasp the power of a gut feeling and wouldn't until he was older, he pushed his worry back down and just hoped the appointment would go fast._

_Once the dentist came in, his assistant left the room, Tony immediately sized the man up and remembered thinking that he didn't look like a dentist at all – or at least not like the one Tony had been going to. The man did have the standard white lab coat on but, he just seemed creepy for some reason. _

_The dentist placed a mask over Tony's mouth and nose telling him it was harmless and that it would make him not feel any pain at all, and since the air that was flowing out of the mask and into his nose smelled like bubble gum Tony had no reason to think the man was giving him anything harmful. He let himself relax slightly and started to breath normally as the dentist had instructed, but then he felt himself relaxing a little too much and within no time his breathing started to become slower and slower, his vision started to become cloudy and unfocused to the point that he could barely make out the features on the dentist's face. _

_He felt himself starting to panic and even tried to yell out but found he had no energy and quickly realized that he actually couldn't move at all now! The helplessness he was now feeling by not being able to move at all now - only caused his overwhelming fear to spike even higher! __Within seconds he felt hands starting to touch his body over his clothes, but touching and rubbing places that Tony knew **no one** had the right to touch. But no matter what he did to try and fight the urge to sleep, he lost all power to fight it and despite his panic felt himself starting to doze off, scared of what the man would do to him once he was completely out._

_But then it was almost as if he had someone watching over him, somehow protecting him because to Tony's relief right before he lost consciousness completely, he heard the distinct voice of his Nanny whom had suddenly come back into the room for some reason – and thankfully Tony had been just coherent enough to see her through his slitted eyes as she stopped the man before he did any further damage. He felt the mask being roughly pulled from his face most likely by her, and then he heard her threaten the stunned man saying she would immediately turn him in if he EVER did something like that again! Then she carried Tony out of there and to the car and it was only about ten minutes or so that Tony had regained his senses for the most part. They had never discussed what had happened, the nanny not even taking the time to determine if Tony was okay emotionally after going through such a frightening experience. But unbeknown to Tony - Evalita ended up turning the dirty dentist in a few days later by sending the police an anonymous tip. She had never told anyone that Tony had been one of the man's victims - but she knew that even without Tony to testify against the man she knew that the police would be obligated to open a full investigation merely upon her anonymous complaint. It took them about 7 more months after creating a sting operation that they had finally caught the man red handed, and red faced. The man ended up admitting his guilt. going to prison but also seeking help for his illegal and disgusting addiction. _

_Tony simply tried to forget about it by pretending that it had never happened and his nanny never spoke to him about it either - other than when she informed him of the man's arrest which Tony had been surprised she even mentioned, but at the same time he had to admit, he felt relieved in knowing the man would not be able to hurt anyone else like that again._

_That night when Tony said his prayers before bed, he thanked his Mom for watching out for him. One of his teacher's, in an effort to help Tony deal with his silent grief, had told him just after his Mom had died that he now had his own personal guardian angel in heaven and that all he had to do was think of her and she would always be there when he needed her. He knew in his heart that she had saved him that day – by making the nanny come in unexpectedly - arriving just in time to prevent the evil child molester from going any further after he had already started to unbutton the top of Tony's jeans. Tony never did find out what made Evalita come in at that precise moment, in fact he shuddered to think of what else the slimy dentist had in store for him if his nanny hadn't come in when she did. The thought was too horrific to ponder so he usually stopped himself from thinking it all the way through._

_**~End Flashback~ **_

While trying not to think about his upcoming turn in the dental chair, Tony's mind kept wandering back to the two men whom had come barreling into the waiting room like they did, what the hell were they doing back there in the first place, and why is it that one of them looked slightly familiar to him. He wracked his brain trying to put his finger on where he had seen the man before but for the life of him he couldn't place him.

"Tony"

His attention was immediately brought back to the here when he registered the voice of a young dental assistant who was calling his name to let him know he was next. Even though his entire head seemed to be hurting now from a combination of his inflamed tooth and gums, his throbbing and swollen cheek and jaw, and not a terrible headache to boot. He thought his neck was becoming stiff as well but fooled himself into believing that it wasn't connected to the infected tooth – maybe he just slept wrong or strained it somehow.

"Mr. DiNozzo"

He looked back over towards the young woman in the white dental coat and realized he was still sitting there in the chair, having made no attempt to go with her. Finally standing on slightly shaky legs having realized where he was heading. Once he got within a couple of feet from her he read her name tag and started trying to back out of the appointment. Maybe he could take care of his tooth himself somehow.

"Uhh, Vanessa - hi there uh, ya know I just realized that I probably don't have enough time for this appointment after all. I mean – I uh really should just reschedule this when I have more time or . . . or maybe on my day off." he lied. He had no intention of rescheduling if he could get out of_ this_ appointment.

"Sir I can tell just by looking at you that you are in serious pain. The way you were wincing while you were talking was the biggest indication." she said half joking. "Do you even realize how dangerous an abscess tooth can be? The infection can spread to your brain eventually or even your heart! It is not something to play around with." she explained, then she smiled trying to ease the nervous man's mind.

"Well yeah thanks but, I mean you don't even know if it is an abscess. I mean it could just be nothing."

"Well when you made the appointment - the few symptoms I was able to pull from you are definitely in line with symptoms of an abscess tooth, so you're already here you might as well just get it over with. I promise, we'll have you out of here in 20 minutes or less and send you off with a prescription for the pain and infection and you'll be done. Alright?"

_'Damn she's good! She'd make a great interrogator.'_ he thought to himself, then he realized how ridiculous he probably looked to not only her – but also to the two kids who were now watching him as well.

"Okay fine. I suppose I can handle 20 minutes." he finally conceded.

She led him through the door and down a short hallway. It was an older building so it had a few separate offices or rooms as opposed to some dental offices that consisted of one large room that held multiple dentist chairs. One room was the dentist's actual office, another room was set up with X-ray machines and all of the supplies they needed to make crowns, bridges, molds, retainers and other similar devices. The two remaining rooms were used for the dentist to work on a couple of clients at a time or sometimes used by the hygienist to do teeth cleaning and the like.

In no time Tony was finally situated in the chair, it was much fancier and more comfortable than the last time he had been to the dentist. The dental assistant had prepped him in the usual fashion by placing what was essentially a paper bib over his chest all the way up to his neck. He just hoped the dentist got in there soon, He definitely did not want to sit there long enough to let his mind dwell on his past not so good experiences in other dental chairs.

_**Outside Dental Office . . . Inside a Navy Blue SUV . . . **_

"Wait, what the HELL are you talking about? Who's a damn Federal Agent and how can you be so sure?" hotheaded Cal had little patience on a _good_ day - but his boss forced him to work alongside Jesse, whom Cal thought was one of their most nervous and unintelligent employees – his patience was tested to it's limit's.

"What?" same Jesses' confused reply, "You just said you knew the man I was talking about! Dammit Cal we only just ran into the guy not five minute ago!"

"Yeah? Well I lied. Besides, I didn't run into anyone, you're forgetting I was ahead of you, **you're** the clumsy nitwit who ran into someone. You'd probably run into the frame of an open door yer so fuckin' absent minded!"

"I'm right Cal – I know it! The man I'm talking about – he stood about 6 foot 2, had light brown hair – stood, somewhere around 35 years old?" he waited for his partner's memory to kick in.

"Yeah okay so, now I know who you're talking about but you haven't answered my second question – how can you be so damn sure?"

"Because, he arrested a buddy of mine a couple of years ago! It was before I worked here - it was a drug bust that turned out to be a set up, this guy was fucking undercover and just pretending to be buying drugs from us. They were able to nab my pal right off the bat, I barely escaped being arrested! I found out later the agent's weren't there to catch us selling the damn drugs - they only used that ruse to nab my friend for a worse crime. Murder." By now he had Cal's full attention. "Yeah turns out he had killed some Navy Lieutenant two days earlier which is how those turkey's got involved. Catching us in the middle of a drug sale like they did, was just an extra bonus for them."

He continued to explain what happened. "I had taken off running as soon as I realized things were going to hell. I took off down the alley hoping the darkness would keep me from being seen - I don't know how but, somehow he spotted me started running after me. He was way faster than I expected and pretty soon he had jumped me and threw himself onto my back until we both fell - my gun went flying so I thought I was screwed! Then I . . . well, I panicked Cal - I just couldn't go back to jail! No way man!"

"Damn! Can you just cut to the damn chase already!" Cal ordered, "Haha - no pun intended." he added, laughing at his own wit.

"Yeah yeah sorry, sorry. Well before he could cuff me and search me for other weapons - I twisted around so fast that it caught him off balance. I wasn't thinking of anything but getting away and next thing I knew, I had stabbed him in the ribcage with a small knife I had hidden in a sheath around my waist. He was so caught off guard and I think he was also in shock over seeing the knife sticking out of his side and his own blood pouring out that I was able to get away and I ran like a son-of-a-bitch. None of his team even ran after me, When I glanced back as I ran they were all just running to get to _him_, I guarantee they were only focused on getting his bleeding to stop - I mean damn I ain't never seen that much blood Cal - must'a hit an artery er somethin'!" then he just started laughing sadistically at the memory, as if the sight of Tony's blood had been thrilling to him.

"Fer fuck's 'sake Jesse, you got the best damn luck of anyone I know I swear!" Cal said, shaking his head, still laughing.

"Yeah well, that's why I'll never forget that guy - man I thought for sure he was gonna catch me. But I gotta damn good look at him Cal, I mean the dude was right on top of me! Then there was also a big write up in the newspaper talking about how this the drug bust leading to the capture of a murderer and it had the guy's name and even a picture of him and the rest of his team. Said they were some kind of special agents from somewhere called CSI or NCI - I dunno - somethin' like that!

"Okay." Cal perked up when he said he had seen the man's name and photo. "So? What the hell is his name?"

"Uh, well . . . I don't remember now. But like I said - he works for some Federal agency and I know it's him! Trust me Cal, I'm dead certain!"

Rolling his eyes Cal wasn't surprised to hear that – just like he thought, his new partner was a damn idiot, "Well Jess . . . you damn well better be – or you'll wish you _were _dead!" he threatened. Then his eyes grew even darker as he realized something. "But we got an even bigger problem - if you recognized _him _you moron - it's not a huge leap to assume he also recognized _**you**_! D'ya ever think a' that?"

"No, he didn't seem to know who I was at all! I could tell." Jesse tried to reassure his trigger happy peer.

"Yeah? Well you don't know Fed's like I do man. They are really good at covering their emotions and expressions, those guys have to have some damn good poker faces in order to do what they do. We can't take any chances Jess. He's gotta go."

"Wait Cal, hold on now. I don't think the boss would like us bringing even more attention to this Kincaid guy when he still owes us money! If we do away with that agent so soon after seeing him here – the cops are gonna swarm this place first since it will be the last place he had been - then we'll never get the bosses' money back!"

Cal's face broke out into an evil and mischievous grin. "You've just given me a ver-rry - good – idea!"

"Uh-oh – I don't like the look on your face Cal, what are you thinking?"

"Well, you are right for once, if we kill him now and cause a scene boss will hand us our own heads on a damn platter, plus Kincaid could open his fat mouth and tell the cops about us being after him, he's just stupid enough to think they would protect him! But on the other hand if we can find a way to use this cop as leverage and get the bosses' money back – we just might end up getting promoted instead!"

The two men started toying with the idea more and more trying to come up with the best way to put their extortion plan into action. Then once Jesse pointed out that typically the police and other agencies don't negotiate like that - Cal thought perhaps if they nabbed both the dentist and his 'patient' – they could force the dentist to demand the money in return for their agent. Then since the dentist is a civilian rather than a known criminal with a long record like both Cal and Jesse possessed – the agency might be more likely to get them what they ask for.

It only took the men fifteen minutes to formulate a rough plan. First thing was first, they had to go back into the clinic and find a way to get the other patient's out of there so they could put the rest of the plan into action!

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N – Gosh I'm not sure how this chapter will be received since I had a couple of different ideas on what I wanted to do with the two thugs. Pls review and let me know what you thought of this chapter. I didn't want it to be too cliché' or cheesy in the plot line, but I think it still is somewhat. Thx for taking time to review. :-)**_


	4. Putting The Plan In Motion

_**A/N – I **know I promised some readers that I would update my "Consequences Of The Truth story first but I just had to get this chapter out first. I do have an update for that story half finished but it's a more complicated and involved story so I really want to put more thought into it. **GOOD NEWS: I got carried away and this chapter ended up being nearly 9,000 words so I split it in two and will post the next chapter tomorrow or later today if I can.**_

_**About my motivation for this fic – I **realized while writing this that I was able to pull from my own experience of having a dentist whom though sweet, was an alcoholic and always reeked of booze. But that's not the worst part, he never numbed me near enough before he started cutting, drilling, pulling teeth whatever – prob since he felt no pain (from drinking) he merely assumed I wouldn't feel anything either. I dealt w/that from ages 5 to 18 until the man finally went to rehab. _

_**GRAMMAR ALERT: T**his story and especially this chapter – contains a lot of slang and improper grammar but only when the thugs are speaking and I purposely did that to emphasize their lack of education and general bad upbringing in order to keep the story real. I am only putting this alert here because this chapter has even more of that than the previous chapters. Go easy on me though cuz I'm very distracted due to RL stress so if I made any huge errors just send me a PM._

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

_The two men started toying with the idea more and more trying to come up with the best way to put their extortion plan into action. Then once Jesse pointed out that typically the police and other agencies don't negotiate like that - Cal thought perhaps if they nabbed both the dentist and his 'patient' – they could force the dentist to demand the money in return for their agent. Then since the dentist is a civilian rather than a known criminal with a long record like both Cal and Jesse possessed – the agency might be more likely to get them what they ask for._

_It only took the men fifteen minutes to formulate a rough plan. First thing was first. They had to go back into the clinic and find a way to get the other patient's out of there so they could put the rest of the plan into action!_

**_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**

**A Deadly Phobia**

_**Scene Four**_

_**12:23 pm . . . Kincaid's Dental Clinic:**_

Despite his fear of dentists Tony was actually glad to see the man finally walk into the room, not that he still wasn't nervous about the whole upcoming experience, he still was - but the way he looked at it, the sooner the man got started - the sooner Tony could put this whole thing behind him and head back to work.

The dentist immediately introduced himself and shook Tony's hand firmly. Tony eyed him up and down to size him up and found that so far the man seemed friendly and normal enough, especially in the way he made direct eye contact with Tony when he spoke to him – that definitely scored the man some points.

_'Well,_ s_o far so good.' _Tony thought.

But then the more he observed the man as he watched him put on his glasses and adjust the overhead spot light above Tony's head, the more he was able to detect a certain amount of nervous energy about the man even though for the life of him he couldn't think of any obvious reason for the dentist's anxiety. Sometimes he hated his own natural investigative abilities because it made him feel paranoid at times - even though he was usually right.

"So Mr. DiNozzo, let's see what we are dealing with here shall we? Vanessa here tells me you've been experiencing quite a bit of discomfort the past few days so it's good that you came in. Based on the symptoms you gave her when you made your appointment, specifically the pain that is now radiating into your jaw, I suspect you may have a bit of an abscess tooth going on and that's reallynot something to take lightly. But the good news is, while those can indeed be very serious, as long as we drain any infection and get you on some strong antibiotics, you should be feeling 100% in no time! I will also give you something for the pain in the mean time because it's not going to disappear over night. Now before I take a look do you have any questions for me?

Uh . . . yeah . . . did it just get warm in here or is it just me?" he said, not even half joking. "Uh sorry I . . . did I hear you right? Did you just say something about . . . 'draining' something?" Tony asked, suddenly feeling a little nauseous.

"Haha - not a big fan of dentists Mr. DiNozzo?"

"Uh . . . Tony, please. Mr. DiNozzo just sounds too much like my Father." he responded, avoiding the question.

"Ahh, well I can certainly understand _that_! Tony it is then. Now don't worry about what I said – I will make sure you don't feel a thing and trust me, you're going to feel a lot better afterward. Now, first thing's first, I need to get a closer look at that tooth so I can see exactly what we are dealing with, so I'm going to leave you in the very capable hands of my lovely assistant Vanessa for a few minutes, she's going to take care of getting the x-rays and then we can go from there I'll do my best to get you out of here and back to work as soon as I can."

Then he turned to Vanessa, telling his assistant how many pictures to take and of which angles he needed to see and after nodding in agreement she stepped in closer to Tony to get started while the dentist quietly stepped out for a minute saying he had to grab Tony's newly created file that he had accidentally left sitting on his desk.

But Vanessa was used to the dentist leaving while she prepped his patient for treatment, it wasn't unusual by any means. Sometimes he would go to the other room to check on another patient, or to his office to return a phone call, or take care of one of many other tasks they had to accomplish throughout the day. But regardless of her bosses' habits that she had come to know quite well during the ten and a half months that she had been working there, one thing that wasn't 'business as usual' was the way he was acting lately! For just over two months now she had watched him become more and more distracted and borderline absent minded – making stupid mistakes or asking her to repeat something she had said - sometimes even _twice_ before he absorbed the words.

But she hadn't dared to ask him about it because she just felt it just wasn't her place. After all, he was her boss so who was she to question_ him_ about anything? She just figured he would eventually work out whatever was bothering him and then things would go back to normal.

She didn't miss a beat when he left and quickly resumed her duties, since they still had other patients waiting to be seen there was no time to dawdle. She started getting what she needed for his x-rays while explaining to her handsome patient just what she would be doing. Tony relaxed a little simply from the sound of her pleasant voice.

_**Inside Kincaid's Office . . .**_

Mike Kincaid had purposely left his new patient's file sitting on his desk, he had to place a call to his bookie to place some bets on tonight's fights that were going to be televised on Pay-Per-View at around 8:00 pm. He knew he **had **to win if he was going to live to see another year. He had desperately borrowed from the wrong kind of people - and now they were threatening to kill him if he didn't pay up. He made the call quickly, informed the bookie of his top selections but then no sooner had he hung up the phone - when his door came flying open rather impatiently. Snapping his head up in alarm, he felt his heart sink into his stomach when he saw that it was the same two men who had just been there to threaten him only 25 minutes ago.

His fear only skyrocketed higher when he heard the telltale sound of his office door being locked after one of them had closed it quietly.

"Wha- . . . wait! What are you doing here? I told you I'd get the money! I told you! You said I had 24 hours!" he pleaded with them while trying to keep his voice down so no one would hear, his mind swirling in panic. "Please, I can get it for you, I might even have it by tonight!"

Cal walked closer until he was inches from the shaking man's face, "Just calm down there doc before ya piss all over yer'self! We're not gonna hurt you . . . well for now. But there's been a slight change of plans." he explained, wearing an eerie grin on his face that made him look like some kind of animal about to devour their prey.

"Look that's fine but . . . can't - can't we talk about this l-later? I've got a patient waiting in one of the treatment chairs already and more in the waiting room!"

"Yeah? Well, sorry doc but **we're** callin' the shots here so it'd be in yer best interest to just keep yer trap shut and do what we tell ya!" Cal demanded. "Now, here's what you're gonna do, you're gonna quietly pull that cute little assistant of yours aside and tell her you need to speak with her in the hallway for a second. Then once you get her into the hallway and away from where that patient is, you're gonna tell her that a family emergency has just come up and that you need her to get rid of the other patients and tell them their appointments will be rescheduled soon. Ya with me so far?"

"B-but wh- . . . why do you want me do that? Oh my God! Y-you **are **gonna kill me now aren't you?"

"No, but I might reconsider if you don't get it together! Now just shut up and do what we say!"

"Oh . . . okay. But I don't understand. Why are you here if it's not about the money I owe?" Kincaid got up the guts to ask.

"Ohh-hohoh believe me Doc - it's_ still_ about the money." it was Jesse who piped up this time, his eyes almost glistening with greed and excitement.

"Jesse – you shut up too!" Cal reprimanded his big mouthed associate. "Look Kincaid, we're still interested in getting the money – ya ain't gettin' off _that _easy! But right now we're more interested in the man who's sitting in that dentist's chair right now waiting for you – and if you behave yourself and do what I tell you to do, he just might be your best means of getting your hands on the money you owe! It's not just _your_ ass on the line if you don't pay up Doc, you think our boss is just going to let us kill you if you can't pay and then simply be done with it?"

"Uhh, n-no I guess not."

"Yeah that's right. If you don't pay up and we kill you – he won't get his money for sure and – well . . . let's just say he ain't gonna take dat lightly! Now get rid of those other patients and their bratty kids, then tell your receptionist to take the rest of the day off and not to return until you call her. Just make something up like a family member died and you don't know how long you'll be out of town for the funeral."

"Uh yeah okay . . . um do you want me to do that right now?"

"Gee no Doc, why don't we order some take out first and then – HELL YES I WANT YOU TO DO IT RIGHT NOW! GEEZ you're almost as dumb as ole Jesse here! Cal's tone of voice was angry and impatient but he still managed to force himself to keep his voice level low enough to where it would not raise any unwanted attention.

Jesse pouted at the way he had just been slammed. He kept his calm and muttered his wishful reply to himself _'I ain't as dumb as you think I am you arrogant bastard. Just wait Cal – you'll see just how smart I am soon enough. You don't know who yer messin' with!' _his pout quickly turned into a sneer as he eyed his partner with ire.

_**Dental Treatment Room . . .**_

After Vanessa had gotten everything ready for her boss, including the quickly developed x-rays of the patient's problem tooth, she proceeded to finish prepping his mouth so the dentist could get started as soon as he came back in.

"Now I'm just going to put something called a rubber dam into your mouth. It's painless but it helps keep your mouth open and your jaw still while the dentist does his thing. Looking at your inflammation it looks like you have been suffering for a few days now so I'm really glad you finally came in. Letting things like this go too long is just_ asking_ for trouble! Besides, you're too good looking to be going around with your face scrunched up in pain." she hadn't made the comment as a way of flirting with him, she was too young even for Tony's standards. She was just very vocal and honest about her thoughts and observations and she also knew some tricks to help nervous patients get their minds off of the upcoming treatment and flattery seemed to work the best.

"Ha, you're pretty funny!" Tony teased, he liked her. But liked her in the sense that she had a soothing way about her, it made him feel so much better and so much less scared, he didn't like her in a romantic sense and not only because of her very young age. Ever since he had realized, or rather admitted to himself that he was falling in love with Ziva, he had stopped hitting on every good looking female he ran into regardless of their age.

She smiled at his comment and realized that he was onto her, he knew she was just trying to get him to loosen up and relax by stroking his ego which Tony had to admit always worked like a charm. She then proceeded to affix the rubber dam into his mouth, clamping the ends with a square shaped frame that held all of the edges of the this rubber taut in place. She then made her way back over to one of the counters as she continued to gather other supplied that the dentist might need.

Tony meanwhile wasn't liking the new dam that covered his mouth. There was something about it that made him feel a little vulnerable, not to mention the increased pain it was causing him as it held his jaw open in such a way that it really made the throbbing pain – worse.

But then Tony noticed the dentist had just come back into the room, he watched the man as he went over to the counter and whispered something in Vanessa's ear and at first, Tony thought nothing of the gesture – at least that was until he he spotted one thing that struck him as more than a little suspicious. It was the confused and worried expression that took over the young assistant's face as she absorbed whatever the dentist had just said to her.

_'What the hell's going on here?' _He pondered. Then he switched gears and started to rationalize the situation – , maybe he was just being paranoid due to being a cop for too long. Butthen he quickly shook off his concerns as nothing short of overreacting, telling himself there was nothing to be alarmed about! He realized that his senses were already running in hyper gear just from _being _here - in a dental office again and basically _forcing _him face his phobia.

"Tony, if you could just excuse us for one moment. I'll be back in short order so we can continue." and with that he followed an still slightly stunned Vanessa out the room, pulling the door shut as they left.

Nope . . . something wasn't right he was sure of it. His nagging gut just wouldn't let it rest - telling him that he _wasn't_ just being paranoid and that something was definitely amiss - but with the utterly nonexistent Intel he had to go on, he had no way of knowing what that _something_ was!

Tony felt his palms getting sweatier while a lump the size of Texas started forming in his throat.

His concern had initially started to rise when Vanessa had placed the rubber dam in his mouth - essentially rendering him speechless. But combining that vulnerable feeling with the suspicious activities of his dentist and hygienist only managed to increase his anxiety to a whole new level, not good considering he had already been struggling to calm himself down from the moment he first took his seat in the plush dental treatment chair.

Now that he was alone in the room and wasn't able to talk, joke, work, play games on his cell phone or call anyone – some of the usual tricks he relied on to keep his mind from thinking about things he would rather avoid. So now, with nothing holding it back – the floodgates of his mind seemed to burst wide open, carrying tough memories and emotions of the past attempted molestation with it in it's wake.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**Next chapter - Tony is forced to face the damage that has stuck with him over the years. Damage from being a victim of attempted sexual molestation and from not receiving any kind of therapy like he should have received. The damage that initiated Tony's ability to hide his true feelings behind the 'face of a clown' as Gibbs put it. **_

_**Pls read and review this chapter – thank you!**_


	5. Painful Memories

_A/N - Okay first I want to THANK everyone for the awesome and detailed reviews! Those are the best kind of reviews cuz I like knowing what your fave parts were. I will be replying to each of you individually but didn't want to wait to express my thanks. _

_Now as promised - here is the fastest update I've done in ages tho it's only because I got carried away writing chapter 4 and had to cut it in half and having done that this chapter is still a LONG one! Please keep the reviews coming :-) This is my favorite chapter so far so I'm curious to see how you all like it too. We're finally getting into more of the action and danger now! _

_**IMPORTANT NOTE:** RE: the dental treatment I describe in this chapter are not 100% factual. From the effects of the Nitric, Novocaine, etc. - to how he treats Tony's infection - to the instruments he uses. But it sounds believable and it's really not far from factual._

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

_But combining that vulnerable feeling with the suspicious activities of his dentist and hygienist only managed to increase his anxiety to a whole new level, not good considering he had already been struggling to calm himself down from the moment he first took his seat in the plush dental treatment chair._

_Now that he was alone in the room and wasn't able to talk, joke, work, play games on his cell phone or call anyone – some of the usual tricks he relied on to keep his mind from thinking about things he would rather avoid. So now, with nothing holding it back – the floodgates of his mind seemed to burst wide open, carrying tough memories and emotions of the past attempted molestation with it in it's wake. _

**_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**

**A Deadly Phobia**

_**Scene Five**_

_**Dental Treatment Room Inside The Dental Clinic . . .**_

The memories themselves Tony had become used to and would _**never **_forget – hell he remembered every traumatic second of that day – or at least right up to the point when his consciousness had really started fading and his nanny had thankfully come back in. It was the emotions that went along with the memories that Tony _wasn't_ prepared for - simply because he had been avoiding and repressing them for all these years - for a reason.

To Tony's young mind back then, the memories seemed less harmful in some weird way - _**if**_and **only** if_ - _he could set aside the _emotions_ that coincided with the memories – because _together_ they threatened to bring him down!

Not long after his attempted attack Tony realized that while it was impossible to simply forget every memory he had of the creepy incident, he found one thing that he could repress and that was the **emotions **that the memories provoked. He had taught himself almost immediately that if he remained almost stoic when his mind forced him to recall what had happened, that the memories weren't as intimidating. As long as he could control himself and control the emotions that would have just embarrassed him and alerted everyone that something was wrong, then he could _deal _with the memories no problem.

The memories themselves seemed almost one dimensional in a way – at least when they stood _alone. _Alone they were less frightful than they would have been had he been unable to learn how to control the emotional aspect.

Now in hindsight Tony understood that by repressing his body's _emotional _reaction to the molestation – that it made the whole thing seem less overwhelming. He knew that that even though he had remained fully clothed - the man had still touched him inappropriately and Tony had been alert enough to know that the man was only seconds away from going even further and had already moved to unbutton his jeans. It was the lack of control that Tony felt during that time – that later spurred him on - forcing him to find something _else_ in his life that he **could** control and unfortunately for everyone – Tony chose to control his emotions.

The emotions, the fear, humiliation, shame and tears – **all** of it had to go.

But what he hadn't realized was that by training himself to act as though he _wasn't _bothered in the slightest by the incident, especially since there was really no one he could tell anyway – he realized that his mind had actually just been protecting him all these years! Protecting him from feeling the traumatic and heavy _emotions_ that _should_ have coincided with the memories and that unbeknown to Tony – would have been a perfectly normal reaction. Yet he had still somehow managed for all these years, to protect himself from feeling . . . well _anything_.

That was . . . until now.

Nothing protected him now. Now that he was old enough to understand the ramifications, as if spurred on by today's event's it was as if all of those years of pent up emotions that his mind had hidden away – were finally shaken free – jarred loose by **this **dental visit for some reason. It was almost as if his body had decided that he was finally ready to face the truth of what had happened to him – and the truth was, it _**was**_ wrong! It was not only wrong but he _hadn't_ deserved it, he _hadn't_ provoked it, and it **really** - _**hadn't**_ been his fault like he had believed for all these years!

These newly released emotions suddenly came together in his mind and mingled with the one dimensional memories that he had never been able to push aside, but now the combination of the two – the watered down memories mixed with the raw emotions of the entire experience of being the victim of attempted sexual molestation – made everything suddenly seem _three_ dimensional now - and therefore more real. Real . . . and now impossible to ignore.

He felt his whole body tensing and the room began to feel even warmer - as if heated by the internal feelings of embarrassment and disgust that he hadn't realized he had pushed aside for all those years until eventually, he just didn't feel them anymore. In fact it was a learned behavior that later turned into something else. Somewhere along the way Tony had gone from acting stoic when hiding his true feelings, to using sarcasm and juvenile humor to hide behind.

But now, completely unable to stop it, everything came rushing back as if it was yesterday – those same feelings of shame, humiliation and guilt. But even though his immature young mind had assumed that it had been his own fault – he had also known deep down in his heart that it had been wrong of the man to place his hands on Tony the way that he did - but what had embarrassed Tony more than anything when he thought back on that day, was how ashamed he felt in knowing - his nanny had witnessed it too.

He had always wondered if perhaps she believed just like Tony did, that he had asked for it somehow or that he had unknowingly done something to make the dentist think that he actually _wanted_ him to fondle him like that. He didn't though, he **never** wanted that to happen! Then why didn't he ever let _himself _off the hook? He now wondered, almost feeling sad for the little boy who had held so much adult size weight on his tiny little shoulders for sooo long.

But the real problem was that since the nanny kept everything quiet and never repeated what the little boy in her care had even been through, Tony never had the luxury of getting to see a Child Psychologist for therapy. Therapy that most victims needed in order to understand that they had done nothing wrong so they could eventually be able to put everything behind them. Especially the youngest victims of pedophilia since their little minds weren't mature enough to understand that an adult – and someone like a dentist that they were led to believe they could trust – had done that to children in order to satisfy their _own_ selfish needs and that it actually had **nothing** to do with the child.

Had he received that therapy he would have learned that it didn't matter _who_ the child was, it wasn't the clothes they wore, how young they were **or** what they did or didn't do – the sick adult who tried to steal their innocence would had done what they were going to do anyway, no matter what. Tony had been luckier than some victims – his period of inappropriate fondling was limited and brief and he was extremely lucky that he had been rescued just in time.

But therapy or no therapy, and Tony didn't know why it happened right now of all times, but he was finally able to look back at the horrendous experience with a renewed clarity. It really _hadn't _been his fault! He had carried all of that shame and humiliation around with him deep in his heart for **years **and it was time to let it go!

Michael Kincaid nervously entered the room again where he had left his patient. Cal had only shared the basic concept of his plan, afraid to give too many details to the nervous dentist for fear of losing a hold on the control that he had over the man. All he had been told was that this guy was some kind of 'Special Agent' – something Cal and Jesse planned to use that to their full advantage. One thing he didn't know however, was that the two sociopaths had planned to have a little fun along the way, not only at the dentist's expense – but also the agent's.

But something else was bothering the dentist, and even though he couldn't explain why, he found himself feeling more and more apprehensive of big mouthed Cal's somewhat silent partner in crime – Jesse. There was just something in the guy's eyes . . . something sinister. If he had to put a label on it he would have to say the man was like a ticking time bomb and the more he was ridiculed and patronized by the other one, Cal, the closer he would get until he exploded. Michael decided right then and there that he would have to find a way to help the agent so that perhaps they could both get out of this alive and maybe then the man would help him in return by getting the police to cut him some kind of deal so that he wouldn't go to prison himself.

_**Outside The Treatment Room . . .**_

Cal and Jesse waited inside the dentist's office, door slightly ajar they listened to the voice of the cute young assistant as she entered the waiting room and politely started to inform the people that their appointments would have to be rescheduled at a later time. She gave them all the name of another dental clinic nearby in case any of them chose _not_ to wait. Meanwhile Cal was briefly reconsidered letting her go once he realized how sexy she was, an idea that he quickly thought better of since he knew that holding too many people would only increase the risk of problems and make it harder to focus on their ultimate goal – getting money from the government!

Jesse stood a couple of feet behind Cal, glaring at the back of the man's head. There was one major factor that the even the almighty Cal hadn't even been aware of and that was just how much resentment Jesse had towards the soon to be captive Federal Agent, resentment that he had held in all these years after his buddy was arrested by this very agent and later killed in a prison fight not long after being found guilty of the crimes that Tony and his team had arrested him for. Maybe now he could get his own personal vengeance against the man who not only cost him his friend, but also the money he would have continued making if his friend had not been captured during the bust and later killed.

**Meanwhile Back Inside The Dental Care Treatment Room . . . **

Tony found himself feeling exhausted! _Mentally _drained from the effects of his phobia, _emotionally_ drained from rehashing those awful past memories and by the epiphany he had just experienced that allowed his mind to work through the damage from the whole unfortunate childhood experience. He now understood that he had been a victim and nothing more.

But on top of all that - he was _physically _drained from the infection that continued to fester and spread and now seemed to be going into the lymph nodes in his neck as he swallowed and realized his throat was a bit sore now as well – and damn his mouth was getting dry he thought as he tried to find enough moisture to try and swallow again. The way his mouth remained open, held in place by the dam made the simple task of swallowing seem nearly impossible.

As tired as he felt it hadn't prevented him from nearly jumping through the roof when he suddenly heard the dentist's voice, pulling him out of his own head and causing his mind to go completely blank for some odd reason. He made a startled sound even though the dam made talking even more impossible than swallowing.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you Mr. Di - . . . oh sorry uh, Tony." Michael apologized as he approached Tony's side.

Tony looked wide eyed up toward the man as he waited for his heart rate to go back down to normal. He probably wouldn't have been so caught off guard had he not been so deep inside his own head when the dentist returned. In one way he almost wanted to thank the man for interrupting before he was overcome by the very emotions that had finally come forth.

"Awhs ah-kay." (It's okay) he mumbled through the dam. Then he noticed something about the dentist's face that was different than before, the man was sweating - and quite heavily if the beads that were forming on the man's upper lip were any indication. Oh great, is he sick? Tony thought, maybe feverish? _'Great that's all I need! He better not pass that damn flu onto me if that__** is**__ the case!_' he thought to himself.

"Age- . . . uh I mean, Tony I um, I was just going to say that you are not at the age that most people are when they are fearful of a dentist. Have you always had this phobia?" Kincaid quickly started making insignificant small talk but he was really covering for his near slip of referring to Tony as "Agent DiNozzo". He tried harder to force himself to calm down before he blew the entire operation and ended up getting himself killed as a result.

"Oh, never mind. I apologize, I sometimes forget how hard it is to talk in one of those things." he added before Tony could even attempt to answer. All Tony was thinking about then was how flaky this guy seemed and he wondered how come he hadn't noticed that earlier when he first met the man.

Cal had warned Kincaid that if he knew what was good for him he would go in there, keep his cool and continue treating the agent for whatever issue he was there to have fixed – keeping the agent distracted while the assistant cleared out the people in the waiting room and then she herself had gone home as well. He ordered the dentist to give his patient the strongest dose of nitric oxide and anything else he had that would reduce the highly trained agent's strength and making sure he wouldn't be able to fight back when they came into the room. Knowing his life depended on doing whatever they said, he proceeded in doing just that.

"Okay Tony, in looking at your tooth a little more closely, I can see that your tooth is more seriously infected than I realized when I took a quick look at it earlier. You really should have come in before waiting so long." he said as he looked into Tony's mouth at his infected tooth. If the agent had only know how much better off he would have been had he even come in the day before.

Tony meanwhile was starting to feel more and more out of it - but not so out of it that he hadn't noticed how badly his gut was starting to churn, signaling him that _something_ just wasn't right. 'And why's he not looking me in the eye anymore?' he thought to himself as he realized on of the reasons for his churning gut. The man was acting very suspicious.

Then adding to his uneasiness he realized for the first time, just how vulnerable his current position was

Slightly drugged and reclined back to a position that made it nearly impossible for him to jump out of the chair quickly if anything started to go wrong and on top of that, a position that naturally made him feel even _more_ sleepy than before which further diminished his usual high guard.

Tony forced his eyes to stay open as he continued to look around through bleary and watery eyes. The detective in him began to notice other _'obstacles'_ that seemed to be positioned in such a way that it would make it hard for him to escape if his phobia flared up at any point. Just too many obstacles to overcome while feeling the effects of whatever he had been given. He didn't need to have been to a lot of dentists to know that he shouldn't be feeling this '_out of it'._

As he continued to look around slowly, things seemed to be almost purposely positioned to make it hard for him to get away if anything went wrong. It wasn't just the reclined position of the chair, the dentist had also moved the swinging lamp down so it was positioned right over Tony's chest – which Tony finally justified by deciding the dentist most likely had to put it there so he could reach it and move it as needed. But he had also also moved his medical tray so that it too was currently positioned to hover above the upper part of Tony's torso – but on the opposite side of the spot light.

He looked at the contents of the tray that held a variety of instruments left for him by his assistant, including balls of cotton, antiseptic and gauze, and a few other things Tony didn't recognize. _'And speaking of Vanessa . . . where did she run off to? 'Isn't it her job to _'assist'_ the doctor – hence her title?_' he thought.

All of his suspicions were starting to pile up, especially when he added the fact that he was starting to feel extremely dizzy now . . . and groggy as hell. Well, pile up as they may, the real problem was that they didn't _add_ up. Why would a simple dentist purposely trap me in the chair? Do they do that to all phobic patients? That simple thought made him realize just how ridiculous he sounded. He was simply blowing everything out of proportion and that's all there was to it.

"So, Tony, I need to do something to get some of that infected fluid out of there, that's what's causing the pain to extend up into your jaw and cheek – it's due to pressure and build up caused by the fluid." the dentist's voice once again interrupted Tony's racing train of thought.

As Tony tuned in to what the dentist was saying, he wondered if the man even realized how fast he was talking.

"It's-a-simple-procedure-really, I just create-a-couple-of-tiny-openings to-allow-some-of-the-fluids-drain" then as if catching himself he slowed it down a little, "Now . . . as bad as that procedure might sound, it really isn't and I'll make sure to numb the area enough so you won't feel a thing."

"Awh-haw auh-K" (uh-huh, okay) Tony attempted to reply not fully grasping what the dentist had said about cutting into his gums, his mind had slowed down so much by now that it took him longer than normal to absorb the man's words.

"I will start you out on what patient's usually know of as 'laughing gas' - though I've yet to see it have that affect on someone." he explained half joking. At his point he wished it _did_ have that affect because he would inhale some himself just to calm his own nerves!

He then reached over and grabbed the nasal cannula that was connected to the nitric oxide tank and pulled it over Tony's head so that the hose rested over the top of his ears and the air was ready to flow directly into his nostrils. He turned the machine up a few notches higher than the dose that he would typically even come close to giving to a patient no matter how painful their treatment was going to be. It was only a matter of two minutes before Tony's head felt lighter and lighter and his eye lids started to droop. Even though Kincaid knew that the men waiting in his office could be in any second and that they really didn't care about his actually _fixing_ the agent's tooth, the caring and human side of the middle aged dentist wanted to at least do what he could to help the agent's pain. It was also an effort to ease his guilt over his own participation and for being the reason the man was going to be essentially kidnapped in the first place. It was the least he could do!

The professional side of the man who took an oath to do his job as a Dentist and treat any patient who came to see him – really wanted to at least get his badly infected tooth draining to relieve some of the pain and pressure before the other men came in – knowing that this innocent man would most likely be experiencing enough pain of a different kind once the thugs made their presence know.

Tony felt his chair starting to slowly recline backwards a little further until he was in a semi-reclining position. The dentist had lowered him in order to get a better view of his mouth and putting him in a position where his mouth would be easier to access.

"Now, I'm just going to numb the area around the tooth with some Novocaine." he explained, as he quickly but shakily injected something near the most infected part of Tony's gum line before Tony had a chance to absorb what he had just told him. But what he _hadn't_ told Tony was that it wasn't _just _Novocaine inside that syringe.

Once Kincaid knew that Tony would be starting to feel the drowsy affects of the gas, the shady dentist had quickly produced a tiny bottle of Valium from the pocket of his lab coat and even with shaking hands he somehow managed to plunge the hypodermic needle directly into the top of the Valium lid, pulling the plunger up so that some of the slightly tranquilizing liquid was drawn up into the syringe that was already pre-filled, courtesy of Vanessa, with Novocaine. Knowing the door was going to burst open any second added to his anxiety as Kincaid started to rush even faster, his hands now shaking like never before.

While Tony looked up at him, his eyes reflecting his apprehension – it was as if the man read his mind somehow and knew what was about to go down! Kincaid tried hard to ignore Tony's silent but obvious pleas to stop, even without being able to talk the man's eyes spoke volumes as to what he was _trying_ to say. But with his own life depending on his every move - Kincaid had to force himself to push away the urge to warn the man. He knew that it wouldn't have mattered and that he would only be killed as a result for attempting to help him get away.

He was running out of time so all he could do now was to at least finish what he started and at least reduce the effects of the agent's painful infection before their time ran out!

Even though he knew it was too soon after the injection and that Tony would only be _partially_ numb, he had no choice but to do it and do it now!

Tony suddenly remembered something the dentist had said earlier . . . '_S-ssomething about cutting . . . draining . . . and it had to do with infection . . . 'crap what the hell did he say?' _he frowned, trying so hard to remember. _'Wait, did he say he was going to cut holes in my gums?_

He wanted to squirm or talk back telling him to stop and let him up – his heart sank when he realized that he couldn't talk, mumble, move or anything - he just didn't have the strength. His eyes widened when he saw the dentists' extremely shaky hands coming towards him with what looked a bit like a miniature razor sharp scalpel except for the smaller and more cylindrical blade that it had on the end.

_'What the hell is he doing? He's not even waiting for that Novocaine to start working? The way his hands are shaking he's gonna slice up half my mouth and I'm not even numb yet!' _he tried again to struggle and move to no avail. It was almost like being slightly paralyzed though he could move his limbs a couple of inches at best.

He tried again to speak, holler, moan – **anything**! Just to get the dentist to hear that he might not be numb yet but all that came out was a muffled grunt that was hardly worth the effort and nothing anyone could understand even if they tried.

Kincaid saw the agent's eyes widening with fear, knowing his patient must have finally comprehended what he had said earlier and now realized just what the dentist was about to do. Cutting holes into the gum line probably sounded like torture to someone who had a fear of the dentist - but he knew the man would thank him later granted if they even survived, for at least reducing the pain that his infected gums were producing so that he would at least not have to deal with on top of whatever his awaiting captors might decide to do to him.

Moving quickly he willed his hands to stop quaking and somehow found the precision of a surgeon he quickly made two tiny holes along either side of the tooth that was causing the infection – the holes were only a little larger than a pin hole and infected fluid with the red tinge of blood started lazily but instantly draining out. Hearing the guttural yell that came from his patient through the rubber damn and seeing every single muscle in the the man's body completely tense from head to toe while he was cutting into him, he realized that he may have only been partially numb and not at three quarters like he had hoped he would be. It made his own stomach ache in empathy. Empathy that was joined by guilt over knowing what lay ahead for both of them simply because he couldn't control his own serious gambling addiction. All of this was his fault and even knowing that the pain he caused the agent would ultimately have been worth it since it would eventually lessen his ongoing pain at least temporarily until he could get antibiotics. Assuming that they lived through the next several hours.

He reached over and grabbed a wad of gauze from the tray and just as he finished placing it into his patient's mouth to absorb the draining fluids – the door came flying open as Cal and Jesse stepped into the room.

Then over the next few seconds several things happened all at once:

Tony turned his head as fast as his groggy body would allow him to, his eyes instantly shot towards the entrance of the room after hearing the sound of the door as it had been flung open with enough force to cause it to swing inward and hit the interior wall with a bang.

Cal moved in fast, pushing the dentist out of his way he took his spot behind Tony while at the same time Jesse had rushed towards the side of Tony's treatment chair in case the man was somehow able to get up. The dentist was busy trying to fight the urge to run even though frozen in fear – it was really happening and there was nothing he could do to stop it without causing his own life to be at risk! He knew now that the men had not been fooling around or exaggerating their plan in any way shape or form – they meant business.

Tony's eyes darted back and forth between the two large men whom he immediately recognized from earlier - in the waiting room when one of them had nearly mowed him down in their haste to leave. Tony tried to get out of the chair, he needed to protect himself_** and**_ the dentist since he had no way of knowing for sure that the man was even involved. After all, the dentist had seemed so focused and intent on fixing his tooth that at this point Tony could only assume that the man was nothing more than an innocent bystander – simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Tony felt like he was moving in slow motion – like some kind of special effects in one of his many favorite movies, and in some ways he really was! His drugged body only allowed him to rise up about six inches above his nearly prone position before the man to his left roughly pushed him back down against the seat – with Tony far too weak to resist or fight back. When Cal pushed him back down all hell broke loose as the tray of perfectly aligned instruments was knocked away causing everything on it to go flying in every direction and before Tony could try once again to escape before things really got out of hand – his upper body was jerked back tightly against the seat while the seat itself was being simultaneously raised back to a nearly upright position.

Looking down at his chest to see what was so tightly restraining him, he was shocked to see a thick yellow rope being pulled tighter and tighter by the man behind him. The rope was something anyone could buy at a local hardware store, the kind of rope typically used for things like rock climbing, or to tie a Christmas tree on top of a car during the holiday season. But what alarmed Tony the most was that it appeared to be made of strong polymer and nylon which, even if he had the chance, would be nearly impossible to cut through in a hurry especially considering the knife hidden in his belt buckle, wasn't the sharpest of knives.

As the gravity of his situation became very apparent to Tony all he could think was, _'Shit!' . . ._

_'This. Is. __**Not**__. Good!' . . ._

**To Be Continued . . . **

_**Thank you in advance for reading and reviewing! BnB**_


	6. This is NOT Good!

_**A/N – Hi everyone! :-) **Here's the latest update. I'm excited about this chapter so I really hope you all like it too! It took me longer than usual to write because I wanted to pay a lot of attention to each and every detail and every word that went into it. Notice how Cal's personality inknowingly mimics Gibbs. I wanted to show similarities minus the fact that one of them uses the familiar gruff personality traits and bossy demeanor in a more evil & negative manner than the other one does. ~ Enjoy!~_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

Looking down at his chest to see what was so tightly restraining him, he was shocked to see a thick yellow rope being pulled tighter and tighter by the man behind him. The rope was something anyone could buy at a local hardware store, the kind of rope typically used for things like rock climbing, or to tie a Christmas tree on top of a car during the holiday season. But what alarmed Tony the most was that it appeared to be made of strong polymer and nylon which, even if he had the chance, would be nearly impossible to cut through in a hurry especially considering the knife hidden in his belt buckle, wasn't the sharpest of knives.

As the gravity of his situation became very apparent to Tony all he could think was, _'Shit!' . . ._

_'This is __**NOT**__ good!' . . ._

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**A Deadly Phobia**

_**Scene Six**_

_**12:45 PM - Dental Clinic Treatment Room . . . **_

Vanessa had waited until everyone in the waiting room had left, either to head back home, or in some cases to other clinics - angered by the last minute dismissal regardless of the reason. Once they were finally gone she made her way behind the front desk where she transferred the main phone line to the live answering service they used so that any emergency calls that came in after hours, could be forwarded to the dentist's cell phone if needed plus they just found the service to be warmer and more efficient than a cold voice mail box.

As soon as she had completed that task, Vanessa grabbed her purse, turned out the main lights to the lobby so anyone who happened to come by later would see that they were closed, taped a short note to the door alerting other patients who were scheduled, that they had closed due to a death in the dentist's family - and headed on out locking the door behind her as she always did, though usually at the_ end_ of the day. She knew her boss always went out through the side door because it was closer to where he parked his adored silver Lexus SUV.

By the looks of the dark lobby, now silent to the point of being almost ominous – the casual passerby would naturally assume that no one was there, never having a clue as to the chaos and danger that lay beyond the waiting room, across the hall and through two doors. . .

_**Also At 12:45 PM - Inside The Dental Treatment Room . . .**_

Tony's head was spinning but not just from the rope that seemed to be getting tighter and tighter around his neck and chest by the second, restricting his movement – it was also spinning from the effects of too much stimuli coming at him from literally every direction when his body was in no condition to absorb it all. His mind was already fuzzy from the Valium coursing through his veins and the effects of the nauseous laughing gas, his jaw was getting sore from how long the uncomfortable dam had kept it propped open, his hands and arms that were at half his usual strength as he struggled to fight against the rope that by now had been wrapped at least three times around his neck, chest and shoulders.

His legs were trapped underneath the stocky yet muscular arms of the man who was standing on the left side of the dental chair and was putting all his weight into pinning his legs down against the seat. Tony knew he had little chance - if _any,_ of getting himself freed from the ropes that held his upper body back, holding his legs as well seemed a little excessive.

Finally Tony tried to use the only means he had left – his voice. He thought if But when he tried to yell out - all that came forth was a barely audible squeak as Tony realized his mouth and throat had completely dried out after being held open for so long, he let his breath out in defeat and frustration. His remaining hopes of attracting the attention of the dental assistant or even someone from the waiting room were dashed – he had hoped if he could just yell out with enough force that someone would hear and come back there to see what was going on.

Little did he know - they were already gone.

But even as disappointed as he was along with being drugged and restrained, he kept fighting against the men who threatened to take him down. He knew he would be a dead man if he stopped and if anything he was determined to at least find out what these men were after, what he had done to deserve their unfriendly visit out of nowhere. His brain fought past his foggy state as he tried to figure it out.

'_Had they been following him?_' he wondered. '_Did he arrest them at some point in the past?_' - '_Were they hit men hired by someone else_?'. His overactive thinking was interrupted when the man behind him started doling out orders to everyone..

"Listen up FED! If you don't stop jerking around and fighting me - I'll send my associate here - out to bring back that cute little assistant before she leaves - and trust me, that petite little thing won't stand a chance and her death will be on your head!"

Tony froze, he didn't need to have a clear mind to fully understand the man's threat. The last thing he wanted was to have one more innocent person caught up in what he could only assume was come kind of personal vendetta. He looked over at the man, or rather the 'associate' - who was still holding his legs down, then using the only means of communication he had left Tony squinted his eyes at the man, giving him the most evil sneer he could muster. Then from the corner of his eye a movement caught his attention as Tony realized someone else was standing off to his right and slightly behind the chair. Through his peripheral vision he finally recognized the lab type coat of the dentist standing nervously in place.

'_Why isn't he doing anything_? Tony wondered as he noticed the man who had only moments earlier been treating him with compassion and concern was now just standing there – making no attempt to stop the men or run for help. Even with his limited line of sight, Tony could tell that the man didn't seem all that shocked by what was unfolding right in front of him . . . in fact, the dentist's body rigid stance clearly reflected the man's nervousness leaving Tony was left to wonder why he wasn't yelling at the intruders to stop . . . why he wasn't asking what they were doing in his clinic . . . and more importantly - why was he standing there doing **nothing**?.

Or was it simply that the dentist wasn't helping _**him! **_Tony realized. The only other alternative was that - he was helping _**them! **_Okay, so his dentist was helping his captors Tony finally determined . . . but why?' . . . he hadn't even known the man and vice verse until the appointment today so how could . . . better yet why would . . .?

Too many questions and too many distractions preventing Tony from figuring out any more of this entire waking nightmare. He decided to let his body go completely still and stop resisting, assuming that only then would he be able to get any answers from the men hopefully without getting hurt so he could find a way out of this mess later..

"Good - that's more like it!" Cal bellowed with a snide grin on his face as he noticed the agent had ceased all resistance.. He finished tying part of the rope snugly in a knot at the back of the chair to keep Tony's torso in place, the rope was no longer choking him although it was still tight enough that Tony knew he would have no chance of getting out of it.

But even though his body language made it look like he had given up – that wasn't the case by any means as Tony started to carefully look around in order to better assess his surroundings, searching the room for anything that could be used as a weapon later in case he was able to somehow break free but also determining the best escape route as well. He had a feeling that they planned to move him somewhere, knowing this clinic was too public of a place to just kill him and leave. He knew they would have already killed him if that was their only goal and that the only opportunity he may have to try and make his escape would be when they did try to take him out of there – and this time he would be ready to make his move!

Meanwhile Cal had grabbed a hold of the remaining lengths of the rope, tying the dangling ends in tight knots around the base of the fancy seat where it was affixed to the floor.

Tony shook his head slightly, he was still fighting extreme drowsiness that was getting harder to fight off as he struggled to keep his eyes in focus. The gas was still flowing freely into his nostrils – he knew he had to find a way to get rid of the offending cannula if he were going to keep from succumbing to it's sleepy effects.

Then he noticed something that he realized might be his biggest break yet - his hands had not been bound along with his upper body! He was surprised that the thugs had been so careless as to allow something like that to go unnoticed. He figured it must have been due to the fact that his hands at the time, had been holding onto the rope while, trying to keep it from choking him completely. It wasn't until his captor had loosened it's choking grip when he tied it to the chair, that Tony was able to loosen his own grip on the rope. But he wasn't about to call attention to his somewhat mobile hands so he let his forearms relax and lowered them quietly down to rest on his lap in hopes that his captors wouldn't notice they were free. Out of sight – out of mind.

Cal finished tying the rope in fancy knots even though he knew they would have to leave the clinic shortly and move to another location soon. For one thing this place was a little too public, and for another – Cal knew there was a chance that someone might come looking for the agent when he didn't return to work. It was obvious by the fancy suit the man was wearing, that he had been on duty before coming to his appointment.

Tony cringed as Cal started yelling out orders to everyone, it sounded like the man was screaming right into his ear – but it only seemed that way due to Cal's very close vicinity standing directly behind the chair and hence Tony's head.

"Kincaid! You get on over there where's I can see you better!" Cal had pulled out his own gun from the back waistline of his pants and waved it towards the end of the dental chair – signaling the dentist as to where he wanted him to move to. Michael immediately moved from his position to the right of Cal and resumed his nervous stance at the end of the chair, Tony noticed the man was standing stiff as a statue made of stone.

As Cal glanced down at his own gun, he realized he still needed to search the agent in case he had brought his own gun in with him – he wondered if he was one ofthose arrogant types of cops and agents who never took their weapon off – not even for something as simple as a teeth cleaning! He** hated** cocky bastards like that.

"Okay now doc you do everything I tell you to do – cuz if you **don't** - you just might find y'rself missin' a few of those perfect teeth of yers! Now I need you to take over for Jesse – you hold this guys legs down - an' hold em **tight**! Jesse you go make sure that little assistant and those annoying patients and kids are gone!"

Once Cal made sure that the men were doing as told he quickly moved to stand next to Tony, but just as he was reaching down, planning to yank the paper bib from it's place on Tony's chest and start searching for a weapon, he was caught completely off guard when Tony's hand suddenly shot up from out of nowhere – roughly pulling both the nasal cannula and the rubber dam from his nose and mouth in one fell swoop – while his other free hand jutted straight up, clamping tightly around the other man's wrist just as he reached for the bib. Beads of sweat were sprouting up all over Tony's forehead and upper lip from a movement that should have been easy. But with the heavy dose of Valium that was now at it's peak - combined with the effects of the gas had been more than enough to weaken him, causing the simple action to leave him feeling as though he had just run a marathon instead.

But to his relief, pulling off the dam that had been tightly clamped to his mouth, didn't bring on the amount of pain he had been expecting it to. His mouth was now _finally _numb enough to where he didn't feel _any_ of the pain that such an action would have normally caused when the clamps that were pinching his skin were brutally pulled free. But he knew that he _had_ to get it off - and more importantly he knew he had to pull the cannula away before any more of that debilitating gas got into his system. He almost paused in relief that he had been able to remove both items in one swift movement, but there was no time to rejoice as he threw the mask and tube as far from the chair as he could bringing his hand back to gain a hold of Cal's other wrist just in the nick of time before the man had time to react and take his control back!

Now he held both of his captor's arms as tightly as possible in his ever weakening grip. Then taking advantage of the adrenaline he could feel now surging through his body allowing him to increasehis hold until Cal felt like his wrists were trapped in a steel vice!

"Who the hell are you and what the fuck is going on?" Tony yelled out as loud as his still raspy voice would allow. It hadn't taken his body long to replace the missing moisture in his mouth once the cause of the dryness was removed. Tony swallowed a couple of times in hopes of producing more saliva to help him get back the full use of his voice.

Cal cursed himself for not making sure that the agent's hands were restrained along with his upper body. Now because of his own stupidity his wrists were trapped in the hands of his victim and he had no one to blame but himself! Calling out to the dentist Cal yelled at the man to help him. But Kincaid had been so stunned himself by what had just happened, that he had frozen up even worse than before. He had no idea what to do.

Cal shot him his most threatening glare right before he turned back to struggle with the feisty agent in an attempt to regain control, the frightening look was all it took to get the dentist to snap out of his trance and move.

Kincaid looked around as he tried to figure out what to do, looking down he spotted something that he knew would be a sure fire way to ensure that Cal regained the upper hand over the man in the chair. Reaching down he grabbed a hold of one of the scalpel like instruments from the floor where it had fallen off of the discarded tray, he plunged it into the agent's right hand - causing Tony to gasp in pain and pull his hand back out of reflex – the scalpel still embedded deeply into the top of it. That movement was the only opening Cal needed to take over and take action. He used his newly freed left hand to pull back and punch Tony square across the jaw with enough force that Tony's head snapped to the left and he lost what little grip he still had on his captor's other arm.

Tony then flipped his head back to the center and before he could even begin to feel his newly bruised jaw he used his left hand to pull the offending scalpel out of his right hand without even thinking! It was a move that was caused by sheer reflex as his body instinctively wanted to rid itself of the sharp intruder and the cause of the newly inflicted pain.

Now freed from his victim's death grip Cal ran over to the nearby counter and grabbed a hold of the only phone in the room. Yanking it off the wall he then ripped out the phone cord and within seconds he was wrapping it around both of Tony's hands – one of which was now bleeding heavily, dripping down onto his $950 suit. Cal was so preoccupied with the task and still seething over what had just gone down – that he didn't even notice the blood or the fact that Jesse had come finally back in and was standing right behind him.

"Hey Cal! Use this!" Cal looked up just in time to see a small gray colored object flying towards him. Barely catching it before it hit him right in the head he looked down in his hand – it was a roll of duct tape. Looking back up at his cohort he shot Jesse the same threatening glare he had given the dentist only moment's before.

"Oh uh sorry Cal I uh - found that in the front office – it was in one of the drawers behind the front desk. I looked around a little bit after I made sure everyone was gone like you asked." he explained.

Cal's glare slowly turned into a smug grin of satisfaction, taking the tape he made quick work of taping Tony's ankles together to ensure that he didn't make any more stupid moves. He then proceeded to add tape on top of the phone cord making it even more impossible for Tony to get his hands free again and finished by running the tape right over Tony's new knife wound so as not to leave any more of a trail behind than they were already making. He didn't need more blood leaking out all the way to the vehicle when they finally made their way out.

Cal then ripped off a final strip of tape which he pressed over Tony's mouth to make up for the missing dam and ensuring he had no way of calling out when they took him to the next destination.

Tony tried turning his head away only to find the man who apparently went by the name 'Jesse" had moved behind the chair and made sure to hold Tony's head in place and for added insurance to get the agent to be still Jesse had grabbed the blood covered scalpel from it's second time on the floor, and held it next to the jugular vein in Tony's neck. Not actually cutting him with it - but succeeding to stop his movements nonetheless as Tony felt the sharp edge pressing a little too close to the vein for comfort.

Unable to move Tony could only watch as Cal struggled to search him through the layers of rope that all but covered his upper torso. Cal finally determined there was no sign of a gun – only an empty holster leaving him to assume that the agent had purposely left the deadly weapon in his car. '_Guy's probably got a damn soft spot for kids - didn't want to risk it!_' he thought to himself with disgust.

Next he searched Tony's pants pockets, successfully fishing out his wallet which also contained his badge - confirming his identity as definitely the man Jesse thought he was. Along with the wallet was also a pair of handcuffs which Cal pocketed in case he needed them later. If not for the agent then possibly for the dentist – after all they didn't really plan on letting him go after they got all the money he owed.

Pulling his focus back to his search Cal finally located the Tony's cell phone after remembering to check the inside pocket of the man's silver-gray colored Armani suit jacket. Tony watched in anger as Cal immediately pulled out the battery and threw the phone on the ground where he then stomped down on it with his heavy boot - smashing it into hundreds of tiny _useless _pieces.

Tony closed his eyes in defeat, now his team would never be able to track him using GPS alone.

_**1:18 PM - Back At NCIS In The Bullpen Of Team Gibbs' . . .**_

Ziva glanced up at the clock on the wall nervously, Tony had left at 11:30 and the closer it got to 1:30 the more concerned she became. So preoccupied by her own worry she hadn't noticed her practically psychic boss watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"Something on your mind David?" he asked without looking up from the case file he was reading. Tim's head snapped up from his own task, relieved to finally have something to break the awkward silence that came over the bullpen whenever Tony wasn't around.

"Uh . . . no nothing Gibbs. I was ju-" she stammered slightly through her attempted reply.

"Just looking at the clock for the tenth time in the past half hour just for kicks? Nervously chewing on the end of your pen for no reason? Is that what you were going to say?" Gibbs rare cheeky side still managed to be stern in it's delivery.

Ziva looked over at her boss as he finished her explanation for her. But that wasn't at all what she had been about to say. She had planned on lying to him, not planning to admit she was watching the clock, not planning on telling him she was worried and _certainly _not planning on telling him why. But he was good and she knew she was a fool to think he wouldn't notice her suspicious actions. She then glanced nervously as McGee as she noticed he was sitting at full attention now as well, eagerly waiting to hear her response and now also worried about Tony but not knowing why.

"Well I . . . well Tony . . ."

Geez what the hell was wrong with her? She pondered in frustration. _'The man asked you_ _a simple question Ziva, just tell him what is wrong_!' she reprimanded herself. But once again before she could get up the nerve to give her boss a real answer, he seemed to read her mind yet again.

"You're wondering where the hell your partner is since he left two hours ago. That sound about right?"

To Ziva's surprise she looked up to see Gibbs - now standing in front of her desk, his eyes boring through her. She looked up at him with doe eyes. "Ok-ayy – yes. That IS what I was doing. It's just that – well I know where his appointment was and . . . well I know he was a little worried about it and . . ."

"What kind of appointment did he have Ziva? What kind of appointment would cause Tony – _and_ his partner to worry?"

"I really don't think it- . . . that it is my place to say."

"I see. So if something bad were to happen at this . . ._ appointment_ – wouldn't you wish you had told us about it?

Tim watched uncomfortably as Gibbs continued to interrogate Ziva like he would a suspect in one of their cases, but what concerned him even more was that he could tell she knew he had no intention of backing down –

Ziva nearly caved in once she caught sight of the worry in Gibbs own eyes that was now showing through."I'm sure I am over reacting Gibbs. Really. It was nothing more than a dentist appointment. I was just worried becau-" she stopped herself before she made a huge mistake in telling them of Tony's phobia. If the tables had been turned she wouldn't want him sharing a secret like that if she were the one with a seemingly irrational fear.

She immediately changed the course of her explanation. "B-because he, his tooth was very infected Gibbs. It was causing his entire jaw to ache and swell. I am just worried that it may have been worse than either of us thought." there, she had said it. All without one mention of his phobia.

McGee! Call Tony's cell."

Gibbs barked out the order before Ziva had even finished speaking, but he never took his eyes off her – staring as though he was trying to determine if she had admitted every specific detail she had to share. Ziva just stared right back, determined not to falter under her leader's intense gaze.

"No answer boss. Goes straight to voice mail" Tim's voice reflected his own fear as he announced the result of his fruitless call.

"Alright." Gibbs broke away from his stare down to glance in his junior agent's direction before turning back to the only female agent on the team.

"Ziva. Where was his appointment? What Dentist?"

"I am sorry but I do not know. He – he never told me. Dammit why didn't I ask him that?" she berated herself even knowing that he probably wouldn't have told her if she had asked.

"McGee!"

"On it boss, triangulating Tony's cell." Tim proactively answered the unspoken order.

Within seconds Gibbs was standing over his senior agent's vacant desk. He started looking everywhere, pulling out drawers to check inside, looking in his trash bin in hopes he had written something down – then just as he started to demand a sit-rep from McGee his eyes caught site of a blank yellow note pad and pen sitting next to Tony's computer screen.

As if reading his bosses mind yet again McGee spoke up, "Boss, something's not right. I can't pull up Tony's location anywhere. His GPS would have to be destroyed in order for us not to be able to access it." now his own worry was spiking up to join the level of the others. Gibbs face dropped at the news as his gut started churning again with a vengeance!

"Ziva – get over here and see if you can find a history of searches Tony may have made on his computer." Within just under three seconds she was already seated in her partner's chair and searching through his Internet Explorer history tab.

"Dammit! Gibbs – Tony appears to have cleared all history at 11:03 am this morning – shortly before he left. I think we are all becoming paranoid the longer we do this job!" Ziva complained, knowing Tony didn't trust any of them since he himself was guilty of constantly sneaking into his partner's computers. He knew that some day they would try to do the same to him in return.

When she didn't rec'v even a grunt for an answer, Ziva looked down to see Gibbs had taken out a pencil and was scribbling it lightly across the top sheet of Tony's notepad.

"Gibbs I hardly think this is the time to be doodling. I mean, we are _all_ concerned not just y-"

"Zii-va?"

Ziva's left eyebrow raised in surprise as she looked over at the all too serious expression on her bosses' face realizing - Gibbs - did not – doodle.

"Shutting up." she responded. The phrase made her think of her partner again as the reply was something she had picked up by accident simply from hearing him say it so many times when his own mouth ran over. Looking over at her boss she forced her attention back to the present moment as she noticed an odd but familiar look on his face. It was the same subtle look of satisfaction that his face always took on when one of his theories panned out.

"What is it?" she asked, then following his line of sight and looking down at the pad of paper – her eyes grew wide as she realized just what he had been attempting to produce with his artistic efforts.

"Grab your gear!" Gibbs ordered, ignoring Ziva's inquiry as he walked quickly to his desk. Grabbing the keys to their vehicle he tossed them in the air straight toward's McGee's head. "McGee – gas the car."

McGee luckily looked up just in time to catch the propelled object before it could hit it's intended target. "But boss don't you want the truck in case we need anyth - . . . rii-ight – truck's too slow. On it boss." he turned and headed out to do as he was told and just like Ziva had done earlier, Tim thought of Tony since he was the one who usually replied to Gibbs with his eager "On it boss" reply - and just like Ziva, Tim had eventually caught on and started using the simple phrase just due to hearing it uttered so often from Tony.

'_Tony . . . pleease be okay.' Tim thought as he run to the rear elevator that would take him straight to the garage._

Back in the bullpen Ziva's head was almost spinning at the sudden change of course. Looking more closely at the note pad Gibbs had been fiddling with she read white outline of numbers and letters that has shown through after Gibbs had used the lead from the pencil to cause the indention's from the very last thing Tony had written on the note pad – to stand out as clear as day.

M. Kincaid -

14302 - 22nd St NW

#202-555-0147

Ziva grabbed the notepad and ran to her desk to grab her bag – quickly using her desk phone she dialed the number on the pad hoping to find that this was all an over reaction on everyone's part. She really did believe they were all a little paranoid due to working with so many shady criminals day after day. Gibbs once again watched her actions from the corner his eye, grinning ever so slightly at just how well he had trained his team.

Picking up his own phone he placed a call down to Autopsy.

"Yes Jethro – what can I do for you this fine afternoon?" Ducky answered the familiar extension cheekily.

"Duck I'm hoping it's nothing it's – DiNozzo. He's overdue - _and _unreachable after leaving for an appointment over 2 hours ago. I just wanna play it safe and have you along in ca-"

"You need'nt say another word Jethro." Ducky interrupted, sensing the worry in his friend's voice. "I'll grab Palmer and m medical bag and we'll leave straight away – now where are we going?"

"I'll have McGee text Palmer the address Duck. I'd let you follow me but I don't plan on going the speed limit." Gibbs admitted.

"Fine, we'll be right behind you and Jethro, I'm sure we'll find Anthony to be just fine." Ducky tried to reassure his friend before hanging up the phone. He hadn't noticed that Gibbs had already disconnected the call a few seconds earlier in his eagerness to leave. As Gibbs and Ziva hurried into the elevator to meet up with McGee who was ready and waiting at the gassed up car, Gibbs nagging gut caused his worry to escalate as he thought to himself;

"What have you gotten yourself into now DiNozzo?"

_**TBC**_

_**I am excited to see what you thought of that chappie. Please pls review! THANKS!**_


	7. Deja Vu

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

"_Fine, we'll be right behind you and Jethro, I'm sure we'll find Anthony to be just fine." Ducky tried to reassure his friend before hanging up the phone. He hadn't noticed that Gibbs had already disconnected the call a few seconds earlier in his eagerness to leave. As Gibbs and Ziva hurried into the elevator to meet up with McGee who was ready and waiting at the gassed up car, Gibbs nagging gut caused his worry to escalate as he thought to himself;_

"_What have you gotten yourself into now DiNozzo?"_

**_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**

**A Deadly Phobia**

_**Scene Seven**_

_**1:47 PM - Dental Clinic**_

Tony couldn't seem to stop his eyes as they kept trying to close completely - the Valium that had been added to the Novocaine was enough of a dose to put even the largest man out for hours but he couldn't let that happen. He had seen enough murder cases in his long career to know that he didn't want to become one. He also knew his only chance to break free would be when they left the clinic to move him to another location as they had been discussing for the last five minutes while Tony sat there trussed up and half listening. He was more focused on his fight to stay awake so as not to miss his opportunity to attempt to escape.

He was further motivated to remain conscious because he knew that it was up to him to find a way to leave as many clues behind as he could for when his team eventually figured out where he had gone. He wanted to kick himself for not even telling Ziva the name of the dentist he was going to see but at the same time he knew that if _anyone_ could track that information down even without so much as a syllable of the dentist's name to go on - it was his team. Even without the luxury of using a GPS signal since his phone lay scattered in pieces on the thin carpet covered floor around him.

But no matter how good he knew their investigative skills to be, Tony knew he would have to keep stalling as long as he could to buy his team some time. Sure - they would figure out which dentist he went to eventually, but it was definitely going to take a while with nothing to go on.

A few minutes later Tony hadn't even realized he had lost his battle against the drowsy pull of the drugs until he was rudely awakened by a stinging slap to his face causing his eyes to flash open fully expecting to see the face of the duo's obvious leader, Cal, looming over him. But instead he was surprised to see the other man, the one referred to as Jesse, glaring down at him in anger right before he ripped the tape they had only recently applied – crudely off his mouth.

"Don't go fallin' asleep on us Aa-**gent **Dee-No-zzo!" he warned – purposely exaggerating the sound of Tony's name. "What do you think this **IS** – a damn **day at the spa?**"

Tony shook his head, willing himself to become more alert and focused, he looked around to regain his bearings, spotting his nervous dentist who was still standing frozen in the same place he was standing after stabbing him in the hand. Tony's mind was spinning. Why would this man try to take care of his tooth one minute and the next be hurting him. The investigator in him wondered if perhaps these thugs were holding the man's wife or something in order to get him to help them capture Tony. But then he realized that made no sense at all since there was no way the dentist could have known that Tony would be coming in today.

He decided to stop trying to figure that part out for the time being, there were just too many missing pieces that only served to skew his reasoning. He decided instead to play along while he continued to try and uncover just what these men wanted badly enough to cause then to kidnap a Federal Agent.

"No - I don't think it's a day at the s-spa by any means - bu-ut I dooo think . . . it's about t-time you tell me what the hell you want from me! **Wha'ss thiss all about?**" Tony's words were slurred due to the increasing numbness of his tongue and lips - making it harder to enunciate and definitely impossible to sound demanding or threatening in any way. He could almost _feel_ his blood pressure rising from how angry he was becoming over the entire situation and if the throbbing in his wounded hand was any indication, that feeling was right on the money.

"Oh you'll find out soon enough cop! But right now? We're leaving – and ya know, the more I think about it, maybe it's best if you _**do **_take a little nap! At least for the short drive we'll have to take to get to where we're takin' you. Can't have you causin' any more trouble now can we?"

Tony had barely followed what he had just said as he watched Jesse quickly pulled out his own gun from the back waistband of his jeans – the same place Cal had kept his own gun hidden, Tony's entire body tensed, he cringed in anticipation of the pain that was surely to come when he saw Jesse swinging his gun hand slightly back and up over his head before bringing it down in an dangerous arc and bashing Tony in the back of his head directly hitting the base of Tony's skull and instantaneously knocking him out.

But right before the lights went out Tony noticed something. The hand that was bringing a gun down on him like the drop of a hammer . . . wasn't covered in any kind of protective glove whatsoever.

_'What an idiot._' was the last coherent thought that raced through Tony's mind as he succumbed to the new injury.

_**Inside Gibbs' company issue Dodge Charger racing down the North Central Freeway at over 100 MPH . . .**_

Gibbs was focused bobbing and weaving down the highway with his foot getting heavier and heavier on top of the gas pedal. McGee sat in the passenger seat plugging in the address to the Charger's GPS device in an effort to distract himself from the peril he saw whenever he looked up. Ziva was seated in the back seat doing the exact same thing by keeping her eyes on the text she was typing as she worked on sending Palmer the exact address of their destination.

The young ME had done a great job keeping up with Gibbs fat first - but once they got off the side streets and onto the freeway it was a different story! The heavy truck that Palmer and Ducky were riding in was no match for the Charger as they soon found themselves lagging further and further behind. Palmer sighed in relief when he heard the familiar beep coming from his cell phone alerting him to a text message and knowing that someone was going to text him the address. Since he knew Dr. Mallard would skin him alive if he attempted to read the message whilst driving - he quickly directed his mentor to the message so that he could verbally relay the address to Palmer instead.

Palmer was more nervous than usual, it seemed he was responsible for getting he and Dr. Mallard lost on the way to a crime scene more often than not - but this time was different. This time he was going to get them there in record time since this time - it was his friend at risk. It was Tony who was missing and possibly hurt - or worse. He quickly pushed the negative thought from his mind and put all of his energy back into getting them there as quickly as possible.

The tires of the Charger burned dark shaded rubber skid marks on the pavement and kicked up smoke and debris in it's wake when Gibbs slammed on the brakes before even waiting for the odometer to show less than 50 miles per hour as he pulled up a half a block from the rear entrance of the clinic, jumping out of the car without even turning it off.

McGee reached over to finish the job, grabbing the car keys from the ignition he too was out of the vehicle in a flash as he raced up to catch up to Ziva and Gibbs as they were already halfway to the clinic. The closer they got the more nervous they became and the more Gibbs gut was churning – almost getting to the point of being physically uncomfortable.

The clinic appeared to be closed. There were no cars in the lot, no sign of activity at the Dental office whatsoever.

"Both of you listen up – you will proceed with caution since at this point we have no knowledge that any crime has even been committed here. You will not do anything until we can assess the situation – Is that clear?"

After receiving a nod from both agents Gibbs proceeded. "McGee – head to the front entrance and wait for my signal. Ziva – with me."

Once Gibbs and Ziva arrived at the rear entrance to the clinic Ziva moved to one side of the door while Gibbs stood at the opposite side. There were no windows on the back side of the clinic so they had no way of knowing what lay beyond the door in front of them. Ziva quietly twisted the knob just to test and see if it was open, the knob barely moved – it was locked tight. She looked over to her boss for further instructions.

Gibbs was whispering quietly into his hidden mic talking to McGee who was now in position in front of the main clinic entrance. McGee listened to his bosses' orders through the ear wicks they wore as part of their usual field gear. "McGee – sit rep."

"Door's locked tight boss – lights are off."

"Copy that McGee, same back here. On my mark we'll have to kick the doors in and if that doesn't work – shoot the damn lock if you have to!"

McGee could hear the worried tone in Gibbs voice but he had to admit, he was extremely concerned himself – afraid of what they might find behind the doors, or worse – who they might find and in what condition.

Everyone assumed their readied stance as they waited for Gibbs mark, "One, Two, three . . . **GO!**"

Door frames and splinters flew everywhere as both doors came blasting open from the force of both Gibbs and Tim's powerful kicks. Gibbs went in the rear door ahead of Ziva while McGee entered through the front. McGee was now standing in the waiting room while Gibbs and Ziva were staring at a somewhat long hallway that had side doors along the way – most likely offices or treatment rooms and the like. As they proceeded down the hallway Gibbs threw open one office door that appeared to be that of the dentist since it had his name on the opaque colored glass. Swiftly glancing around the small office he yelled out to Ziva, "CLEAR!" then it was Ziva's turn as she opened the next door which was a restroom that proved to be clear as well.

Tim looked around seeing an obviously vacant waiting room, he then spotted the receptionist's desk to his left and a door straight ahead of him that he knew had to lead to the treatment area. He knew better than to not announce himself before entering into an area where his gun yielding boss and co-agent were.

"MCGEE COMIN' THROUGH!" he yelled. There was no need to be quiet now since it was clear no one was there.

He spotted Ziva and Gibbs half way down the hall at the same time they looked over at him. Together the three approached the next door while each of their stomach's dropped in anxious worry – then as soon as they had opened the door and stepped into the room both Ziva and Tim's mouths dropped wide open while Gibbs' jaw actually clenched more tightly shut as the sudden shock and growing worry managed to make his fury soar.

The place was a disaster! There were instruments and a tray among other things strewn about the floor, there were remnants of duct tape laying on the main treatment chair, drawers and cabinets left open and then all three of them caught sight of something far worse than the messy room – fresh drops of blood. Drops of smeared blood on the treatment chair and more on the carpet below. Too much blood to have come from someone's mouth for sure, even if a tooth had been pulled it wouldn't have produced the amount of dark red blood that they were looking at now. But thankfully it was too little blood to be from any life threatening injury which was the only positive thing they could find about the entire bizarre situation.

The three agents stood in stunned silence almost too frozen to move, even knowing they had to get started before the trail became any colder, but before they had even started moving again they all heard a quiet gasp coming from the doorway behind them. All three heads spun around to see Palmer standing in the doorway holding one of the medical kits they brought in just in case it was needed for Tony or anyone else such as the dentist. Palmer was staring wide eyed at the obviously empty room – and at the blood. Ducky walked in right behind him and looked to see what had caused his assistant to stop so suddenly in front of him when his own eyes spotted the red drops as well.

After pausing for but a moment they knew they couldn't avoid the inevitable as they all started moving at exactly the same time, although every single one them felt as though they were moving in slow motion.

How had the day changed so dramatically in just a matter of hours? Even though no one said it out loud as they processed the scene, an eerie sense of deja vu overwhelmed each and every of them as they all thought back to the day when Tony's car had blown up and they had to process that scene as well, thinking at the time that the burned body seated inside was their friend and family member – one very special agent Anthony DiNozzo.

_**TBC**_

_**I almost didn't stop it here but I thought it was the most powerful place to end this chapter. I have holiday plans too so I didn't have a lot of time to keep going. I will update in the next few days though! Pls review! Thanks!**_

_**HAPPY HOLIDAYS! **_


	8. Processing The Scene

**A/N - Hello everyone :-) **Thank you for all of your awesome reviews! Wow! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! In this chapter I mention one of the villain's last names. I don't see that I put it in the previous chapters already but if I am mistaken just send me a quick PM. :-) Oh and there's (of course) more Tony whumping in this chapter but I **promise** you, I won't get too carried away with his injuries from this point on and there will definitely **not** be any torture scenes since there's no reason for it in this story. Thank you and enjoy!

**Side Note: **Updates to my "Consequences" story will be posted next, followed quickly by updates for both "Long Flight" & Mistaken Identity" (Bones fic).

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

_After pausing for but a moment they knew they couldn't avoid the inevitable as they all started moving at exactly the same time, although every single one them felt as though they were moving in slow motion. _

_How had the day changed so dramatically in just a matter of hours? Even though no one said it out loud as they processed the scene, an eerie sense of deja vu overwhelmed each and every of them as they all thought back to the day when Tony's car had blown up and they had to process that scene as well, thinking at the time that the burned body seated inside was their friend and family member – one very special agent Anthony DiNozzo. _

**_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**

**A Deadly Phobia**

_**Scene Eight**_

_**Dental Clinic shortly before Gibbs and team arrived . . .**_

Cal pulled an unconscious Tony forward in the dental chair so he could hoist him up into a fireman's carry for the short trip to the car. Cal's body builder strength and broad shoulders made the journey look easy and his cargo look light to everyone around him as Jesse and Kincaid grabbed hand towels and made fast work of haphazardly wiping down doorknobs, instruments, chair arms – anything they might have touched. Jesse cursing himself the whole time for not wearing gloves, especially since there were boxes and boxes of protective latex gloves on hand for the dentist to use as a mandatory part of his job.

They didn't waste time cleaning up any of Tony's shed blood since they didn't care if . . . hell they _wanted_ the police to figure out they had nabbed a Federal Agent. They'd know soon enough anyway.

Locking the back door behind them the men wasted know time getting out and over to the vehicle. They had thought about taking the dentist's car but realized what a mistake it would be to leave their own car behind so it could easily give away at least Cal's identity. Roughly tossing Tony's form into the section of the large SUV that was furthest in the back they forced the dentist to come along by pushing him into the middle section.

"Jeezus Jess how hard did you hit the son-of-a-bitch? You better hope for all our sakes that he wakes up! We ain't gonna get very far if we end up with a corpse as our hostage!" Cal reprimanded his partner in crime.

"Cal just shut up and drive will ya? Ya don't want him seein' where we're takin' him anyway do ya? Trust me, it's better this way. He'll wake up . . . eventually."

The nervous dentist kept completely silent while fastening his seat belt. Why the hell did they need to drag him along anyhow – he would have kept his mouth shut. But the more he thought of the shape his clinic was left in – the more he realized it would have been very hard to cover up everything that had gone down there in the short amount of time it took to nab the agent. The agent who would finally help get the price off of Kincaid's own head by helping them obtain more than enough money to pay off the gambling dentist's heavy debt – owed to some very powerful and very dangerous people.

_**The Dental Clinic - Present Time Frame . . .**_

"Ducky since there's no corpse to examine, thankfully – I need you to get a sample of that blood back to headquarters for analysis." Gibbs started barking out orders once the team's initial numb shock wore off. "We'll send you back with some other evidence that Abby can start working on." he added.

"Of couse. But dare I ask just what you think happened here?" Ducky asked while he stood in place with Palmer behind him – both looking around the room that stood in shambles in front of them.

"Well Duck, you can ask but, not sure I can answer that just yet."

"Very well then, Palmer wait until the team takes photographs of the area and then if you would please gather samples of the not only the blood on the chair but also the floor and the scalpel type of instrument laying over there - whilst I gather the duct tape remnants. Then also bag the scalpel for Abby as well since it's apparent it was used as a weapon . . . or perhaps the dentist tried to use it in defense?" Ducky directed his assistant towards the knife-like instrument laying on the floor as he pondered it's purpose.

"We'll determine if it all came from the same victim or from more than one." the ME added, causing Gibbs to look over towards him.

"So tell me what you think Duck?" Gibbs asked his long time friend. Ducky knew he was asking for the man's professional opinion on what type of wound would cause that amount of blood as well as the potential severity of the wound just as he always did but knowing that this time it could be Tony they were speaking of.

"The good news is that the blood is bright red which means that the wound – or wounds – were most likely shallow in nature. I would bet my degree on the fact that while it does appear to be a wound that was bleeding quite steadily - it's not life threatening by any means." He concluded much to Gibbs satisfaction.

Gibbs let out a barely there breath of relief as he turned and continued to direct his team. "McGee – get into the dentist's office - see what you can find. You find anything you think might be a lead I want to know about it!"

"Ziva pictures! I wanna know what happened here and why the hell my senior agent is missing!" Gibbs hollered as he silently began to work on his own task of dusting the room for prints.

Ziva and McGee said nothing in response as well, they simply turned and began to tackle their assigned tasks post haste. They knew better than to speak when Gibbs was in this kind of mood. The kind of mood that only seemed to occur when one of the team was hurt or in danger. They knew the only way around it was to find as many clues as possible by doing what they did best – investigating crime scenes.

Thirty minutes later Gibbs pulled Ziva and McGee together to regroup, debrief and figure out their next step. Ducky and Palmer had been long gone taking as much gathered evidence and photo memory cards back with them to give to Abby. Gibbs didn't envy the older ME for having to break the news to their feisty forensic scientist about just who the victim might be. But he did know that once Abby was told that the evidence was from a crime scene that most likely involved Tony – she would work faster and more efficiently than ever to help them find out what happened to him.

McGee was first to announce his preliminary findings from inside the dentist's personal office, "Kincaid appears to be quite the gambler Gibbs. I found numerous portfolio's listing horse races and other events he was betting on. The amount of money this man would bet even when the odds were against his particular horse – were very substantial amounts. I don't know that this had any connection to what happened To Tony but this guy had to have incurred a lot of heavy debt I would imagine. See here how he circled the bet's he actually won in green marker?" Tim showed Ziva and Gibbs the book that held pages upon pages of betting information and they could easily see where the man circled the winners and also listed the odds for each bet in red marker. It was very clear that the races the man lost far supassed those that he had won.

While Gibbs' mind absorbed the new information Ziva described her own findings, "From what I have gathered Gibbs I would guess that Tony was in the dentist's chair most likely being treated by the dentist – then someone – possibly more than one person, entered the room from that door over there and attacked them by surprise. Now seeing what McGee has found it could be related to the gambling debts. Tony may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time." then after announcing her hypothesis she mumbled slightly under her breath, "._ . . it wouldn't be the first time!"_

"What was that Ziva ?" Gibbs had only barely understood the mumbled part of her sentence - but joking over a serious matter like this made his blood boil. Even_ Tony_ knew better than to make inappropriate comments at a time like this and Tony practically _lived_ for inappropriate.

Ziva thought fast, recovering quickly by changing her statement, "I said . . . uh - it could be mob crime." her eyes looked anywhere but at her boss, not wanting to see if he believed her or not. If he didn't, he kept it to himself as she heard him reply with his own theory.

"Yeah . . . could be. But something doesn't make sense. Why would they take Tony? If they were here to collect on some overdue debt – why not just wait to grab the dentist after hours? Or even kill him later if that was their goal? Why now? Why in the middle of a busy work day?" Gibbs rubbed his forehead as he spoke, eying the room again from left to right, his gut telling him they had only figured out a third of what really transpired. He would know when they were on the right track – he always did.

"McGee! Go check the schedule at the front desk – I want to know what other patient's were scheduled at the same time that Tony was here and I also want to know who was set up with appointments the rest of the day as well – we need to talk to every single one of them! Ziva you go find me any other employees names you can find – he had to at least have an assistant if nothing else!"

While his agents took off towards the receptionist's area Gibbs looked back down at the smeared blood on the chair and floor, clenching his jaw tightly enough to cause the underlying muscles to bulge out slightly along his jawline. He once again rubbed his hand over his forehead trying not to imagine the worst – that the blood he was staring at was that of the man who was as close to a son as he would ever get.

'_We're comin' for ya DiNozzo - just stay alive until we do_.' he said to himself as if Tony could really hear his unspoken words.

_**Inside Cal Marone's (ma-rone-ey) SUV - making their way through the city heading to the outskirts of town . . .**_

Tony started to come to as he blinked his eyes rapidly and tried to get a sense of his surroundings. '_What happened? Where am I?_' rapid fire questions went roaming through his mind, 'Oww-ch!' he still kept himself from calling out loud as he knew something wasn't right. He could feel his hands bound tightly in front of him and tape fastened across his lips, but why was it so dark out? Last thing he remembered it had been daylight outside and not any where near becoming dusk. It only took him another half of a second to realize there was some kind of dark bag over his head albeit loosely, it was still keeping most of the daylight from showing through.

He forced himself to remain silent and still – not wanting to alert anyone that he had awakened. He silently thanked whomever had put the bag on his head so that he didn't have to keep his eyes closed and no one would be any wiser to the fact that he was finally awake. He decided to listen and mentally note every sound he could hear from outside the vehicle in case he had a chance later to give Gibbs clues as to where they were taking him. If he knew one thing about his boss it was that he would leave no stone unturned – or unprocessed to find one of his agents! His ears detected some sounds that could be heard anywhere in the city such as car horns, a diesel engine now and then from some kind of passing truck, sirens off in the distance – but thankfully every now and then he would hear something more unique to a specific area – a church bell, some kind of a ringing bell such as a school might have to signal recess or the end of the school day, a crowd of people cheering and band music playing that even though he could barely hear it.

It seemed that with his other senses muffled – it really _did_ enhance his hearing somehow. He knew the sound from his days as a former football player in college. It was a crowd watching a school football game with the band playing either at half-time or right before the game had begun and Tony knew that was the one clue that could be more helpful than the others since he knew his boss could have Timmy track down any and all high schools located within a ten to twenty ten mile radius of the dental clinic - then narrowing the list down to only those that had games scheduled at the approximate time in the early afternoon. Then once they had it narrowed down to most likely only one or two schools, they could at least estimate the direction with which Tony's captor's were taking him. Sure it was a long shot and it wasn't going to lead the team directly to Tony's exact whereabouts but - it was the best he could do for now. Of course all of this would only be helpful if he could convince his captors to allow him to speak to Gibbs in order to pass him the clue.

He breathed out an undetectable sigh of relief as he felt himself gaining a little more hope than he had when he first woke up. Now if he could just get this damn head ache and the throbbing in his hand to stop then he would be golden!

"Kincaid! Look back there and see if our guest is waking up yet? It's been a damn long time for him to be knocked out!"

Kincaid looked back behind his own seat and noted the rumpled body of the agent laying eerily still in the back of the long vehicle. "Uh, he's still out . . . but I don't think it's just from that knock on the head you guys gave 'im. Don't forget, you asked me to drug him as well!" the dentist reminded the men knowing that the Valium combined with the nitric oxide would have been more than enough to knock the man out even _without _getting pistol whipped on the back of the skull on top of it. '_What have I done?'_ Michael thought to himself, _'I essentially assaulted a Federal officer and if they end up killing him – I'll also be an accessory to murder!'_ he felt the start of a panic attack just waiting to happen and had to physically force himself to stop thinking along those lines. He knew he _had_ to find a way to make this right – to help both he _**and**_ the agent who simply came to him for a bad infection – escape.

Eventually the now dust covered SUV pulled up at the end of a long dirt road to a house that looked to be far away from any suburb – or any other homes for that matter. It was a simple, run down single level home that was small in size but had a massive front and back yard covered with dying grass. A greenbelt of trees surrounding the back side of the house as well as both sides.

Tony felt the vehicle bouncing up and down as it drove over the poorly maintained road as he tried hard not to yell out loud in pain after their careless chauffeur Cal hit some of the larger potholes head on. Once they finally came to a stop only a few seconds had passed before he could hear the telltale sound of the rear hatchback being unlocked and lifted so he closed his eyes again just in case the pulled the hood off. But before he knew it he felt hands sliding him forward by pulling him using the back collars of his suit jacket and dress shirt. He had just enough time to tense up when he felt himself falling toward the ground which his body hit in all the wrong places and most assuredly adding more bruises to his already aching body as he landed with an oomph!

"Auu-owww." was the painful sound that escaped from his mouth, a sound that was muffled even more by the hood.

"Aww, did we hurt our little guest again? How rude of us." Jesse sneered swinging his foot back and bringing it slamming forward into Tony's ribcage, feeling the crack of a rib giving way underneath the tip of his heavy boot.

Tony grimaced in pain curling into the fetal position to protect his ribs from any other kicks he couldn't see coming. He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath in, afraid of the severe pain that he knew exhaling with a cracked rib would bring on. But no other kicks were forthcoming as he felt his ankle suddenly cut free from the tight hold of the duct tape right before he was yanked upright by two strong arms, grabbing a hold of him under each of his own arms and pulling him up, half carrying him to the house. Cal on one side, Jesse on the other.

Cal yelled to the dentist to run ahead and open the rarely locked door so they could bring their limping _cargo _inside. Once inside the confines of the old house they led Tony to a doorway near the small kitchen, pushing it open they all but tossed the still hooded Tony through the door causing him to fall down the entire length of rickety stairs with no way to stop his decent since his hands were still taped together in front of him. Kincaid gasped in horror of the God-awful sound the falling agent's body made as it harshly impacted every other stair and the occasional support beams that held up the rotted wooden railing until he landed in a heap at the bottom – now completely still, most likely having been knocked unconscious once again.

"What the hell did ya do that for? He didn't do anything to you to deserve_ that_!" Kincaid yelled out, finally tired of the brutal way the men were treating his new patient. He completely regretted agreeing to this plan of theirs, it wasn't right to bring harm to another innocent person in order to free himself of the punishment he deserved for having an addiction to gambling in the first place! But how could he stop them now? He wondered if they had some hidden agenda since they were being unnecessarily rough on the man – the very man they needed to keep _alive_ if they wanted to receive any ransom whatsoever.

"Shuddup Kincaid or you'll find yerself sufferin' the same fate!" Cal yelled back. Now git down there. The last thing we need is for you to be stickin' yer nose into everything we do. Need I remind you - this ain't your plan! It's ours and we'll be callin' all the shots! Turn around and put yer hands behind yer back!"

Kincaid started shaking almost uncontrollably thinking they might just shoot him in the back or actually push him down the stairs too. Then he spotted the agent's handcuff's in Jesse's grasp and realized they were just planning to cuff him. "Hey wait – why the hell are you cuffing ME? I'm not a threat!" he pleaded.

"Yeah? You may not be now but, well - maybe we just don't trust you. Now turn around NOW!"

"Wait hold on! Think about it! You know that fall down the stairs could easily KILL a man! If he fractured his skull or anything like that, he could die if he isn't already! Look, if you leave the cuffs off then I can make sure he stays alive! He won't be any good to you if you kill him. They will never give you the money you and I both need if you don't have an agent to give them in return! You know damn well they will demand proof of him being alive!" the dentist pleaded.

"Doc I think you watch too many crime shows!" Cal yelled back, then he thought for a second realizing the man was somewhat right. Even though he still planned to kill both of the men, he needed the agent to be alive long enough to talk to whomever they contacted at NCIS to let them know so far he was okay. He would just kill them both after they got their money.

"Alright fine!" Cal gave in, grabbing the cuff's out of Jesse's hands and stuffing them into his own back pocket. He decided to throw out one more warning before shutting the door, "But you try anything funny when we come back down there, you will never see your family again! You understand me?" with that he slammed the door shut nearly hitting Kincaid in the face and not even waiting for an answer. He knew he had made his point.

Kincaid just stood there breathing heavily on the top of the landing in a now darkened basement. He heard the telltale sound of the door being locked securely from the other side. As he turned to start his decent into the even darker part of the basement he heard the sound of something heavy being dragged over to further block the door from being opened, just as added insurance. Since Kincaid was cast into near complete blackness, he had to cautiously feel for each step so as not to fall the rest of the way down until he finally stepped onto the concrete floor below. He knew the agent had landed close to the last stair so he gingerly brought one foot forward to look for the man, it didn't take long before his foot was stopped by a soft impact which he knew had to be the Federal Agent of whom he only remembered his last name since that was the name the captor's referred to him by most often.

By now his eyes had adjusted to the light somewhat and he could make out the outline of the man's body below him. The agent's leg appeared to be laid out an a bit of an odd angle, most likely broken or fractured during his fall. Kneeling down Michael tried to rouse him so he could get them both moved over by the wall and away from the stairwell. His guilt was only increasing with each new injury the agent received, but all he could do for now was to quell those feelings and help the man in any way he could for the time being, or until they could come up with a plan to make their way out of there.

Reaching down he first felt the material of the bag that covered Tony's head, pulling it the rest of the way off since it had almost come off during his rough tumble - Kincaid proceeded to gently tap the side of his face with his open palm and in a hushed whisper tried getting him to come around. "Mr. DiNozzo? Hey come on, I need you to wake up. Mr. DiNozzo?"

Tony felt pain before he was aware of anything else, the next thing he picked up on was someone calling out to his Father – Mr. DiNozo. In Tony's jumbled mind he always thought of his biological Father whenever he heard the reference of 'Mister' DiNozzo since most people referred to Tony as either 'Agent' DiNozzo or of course – Tony, whereas his Dad when not being called Mr. DiNozzo he was referred to as 'Anthony' rather than the shorter version of the first name.

"Who's slapping me and why are you calling for my Dad?" Tony finally pushed the pain aside enough to speak as he realized someone was somewhat gently slapping his cheek. He almost didn't recognize his own voice since it came out sounding rather weak and slightly raspy.

"What? No, it's just me – your dentist. I – I'm sorry but . . . I uh, can't remember what your first name is." Michael explained after realizing the agent must not be used to being called _Mr._ DiNozzo.

"Ohh yeah – my dentist. Oww-damn!" sudden pain flaring up in Tony's leg and ribcage stopped him in his tracks after he made the mistake of moving slightly hoping to pull himself up to a seated position. Forgoing that painful battle he decided to stay still for the time being.

"N-n-never 'pologize . . . ss-ign of weakness. Oh and it'ss To-ny. The n-name'sss Tony."

"Okay well then – Tony. You should stay still until I can check you to see what damage you obtained from your fall down the stairs." Kincaid instructed.

"W-what did you jus' s-say?" Tony's eyes grew wide and he realized that thankfully he could see now, well as good as one could see in a dark basement. It was at least better than he could see before which was just the inside of the bag.

"They pushed you down the stairs." he explained.

"Look I'm really very sorr- oh, I mean . . . I - hell who am I kidding?" the dentist continued. "I'm already **weak!**" he explained as he rationalized why he was still free to use the word 'sorry' to his liking. "I'm sorry Tony but – this is all **my **fault! You are here because of **me**!"

_**TBC . . .**_

_**I tried to make this chapter a little longer and toyed with going even further – but someone told me once that longer chapters are harder to get around to because they take too long to read. But the good news is that I should have another chapter up fairly quickly because I'm on a roll with this story at the moment. Pls take a second to review if you could be so kind. :-) Thank you all! **_

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


	9. Michael Kincaid: Friend Or Foe?

_**A/N: Thank you ALL for your reviews! I am so happy that everyone seems to be enjoying this fic. This one won't be nearly as long as my other stories so you might actually see me finish one! haha ~ Enjoy ~**_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

"_W-what did you jus' s-say?" Tony's eyes grew wide and he realized that thankfully he could see now, well as good as one could see in a dark basement. It was at least better than he could see before which was just the inside of the bag._

"_They pushed you down the stairs." he explained._

_Look I'm really very sorr- oh, I mean . . . I - hell who am I kidding?" the dentist continued. _

"_I'm already **weak!**" he explained as he rationalized why he was still free to use the word 'sorry' to his liking. "I'm sorry Tony but – this is all **my **fault! You are here because of **me**!"_

_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Nine**

_**Dental Clinic – Just 38 Minutes past when Gibbs and team first arrived. . .**_

The team had processed the entire scene faster and with more proficiency than any crime scene they could remember. Usually they had time on their side but in this case they weren't so lucky – and neither was Tony.

"Okay – we need to process outside near the back entrance – looks like they came and left through that same door." Gibbs announced, "Let's see if we can find any tire tracks or external video security cameras that might have caught something." Ziva and McGee listened quietly, their moods were somber as they both couldn't help but think of their friend being forcibly taken and possibly injured.

"When we get back to NCIS I want that dental assistant brought in for questioning and every damn patient that had appointments around the same time Tony disappeared."

They grabbed all of the remaining evidence and their kits and headed towards the rear exit where they had determined the kidnappers had made their escape through, they all kept their heads down looking for evidence which included more drops of blood that they missed as they broke into the place since they had no reason to look for a blood trail on their way IN.

"Look – over here." Ziva hollered to Gibbs and McGee. "I think I found something. It looks a lot like small drops of blood." she explained.

Gibbs turned on his small flashlight to lean down and shine it onto the brownish red tiny splatters in the dirt just a few feet past the exit. He dabbed at one spot with his index finger and sniffed it, the lines of tension on his forehead deepened as he detected the faint odor of copper.

"Smells like blood but we need to be sure. McGee test it. If it tests positive grab another sample for Ducky. I want to know if the different samples are from one person or more than one. Hopefully Tony got some licks in of his own." he added.

McGee announced the results of the test almost immediately, confirming what Ziva and Gibbs both suspected.. "Yup – positive for blood. I'll grab a sample."

Ziva and Gibbs left him to the task as they went forward looking for tire tracks. They were quickly rewarded with another big break as this time it was Gibbs who caught sight of barely detectable tracks right before the dirt turned into pavement. The tracks were smeared slightly as if the vehicle had been in a significant hurry when it took off, but hopefully Abby would still have enough to use to run through her programs to identify the make and model of the tires.

Twenty five minutes later the team was back at NCIS headquarters where Ziva and Tim quickly got to work and started calling on their only leads. Meanwhile Gibbs stayed inside the elevator and headed directly to Ducky's lab. His first priority was to find out if the blood _did_ belong to his senior field agent, and to also bring him the newest samples to test as well.

"Hey Duck – got an update on that blood yet? Have you at least determined if it could be Tony's?"

The busy ME would have jumped in surprise at the sudden intrusion if not for the sound of the glass doors that slid open announcing Gibbs arrival before he had spoken. But even so Ducky still found himself a little jumpy nonetheless and he had noticed that he wasn't the only one. It seemed that everyone including Abby and Palmer, had become tense and extremely anxious ever since they first confirmed that Tony was missing.

"Yes Jethro. I'm afraid the results confirmed that all of the samples thus far are indeed A positive . . . Tony's blood type. But dare I say A positive is a very common blood type and -"

"Ducky." Gibbs interrupted. "I know you mean well, but right now it's not about trying to pacify me into hoping that one of the kidnappers just happens to have the same blood type. Right now I **have** to assume that it **is** Tony who's been injured otherwise we might not maintain the same urgency and end up putting him at further at risk if his wounds are worse than we think." he stated all of that while somewhat pacing around the area where Ducky was working.

"Yes, yes – well I suppose you are right. What else can I do to assist then?"

Well since there's no dead body for you to gain insight from with one of your one sided conversations, then just come with me to Abby's lab to see if she could use some help. Where's Palmer?"

"Oh, he's already down there. I knew you needed results as soon as possible so I had already taken took the liberty of sending Palmer down to assist."

"Alright Ducky, that's good thinking. How' did Abby take the news?"

"Like a champ. Although I do believe it hasn't quite hit her yet Jethro. I fear she may be putting on a show and acting professional as a bit of a mask over her true feelings. I suggest we all keep an eye on the girl."

"Thanks Duck, I'm afraid she and Tony are a lot alike in that capacity. They are both good at the mask thing. I'll watch her. Now before we get there I would like to ask you to do one more thing." Gibbs asked Ducky as they entered the elevator and pressing the button for the floor below.

"I'd like you to give me a profile of that dentist. I'll have McGee bring you the file he's putting together on the man – you might have to do a little more research on this one since we have a lot of possible witnesses to locate and little time to do it. I just hope someone calls us with some demands soon, either for the dentist or Tony, so we can find out what the hell this is all about." Gibbs finished venting just before the elevator doors opened and they headed towards Abby's lab.

_**Down in the basement of the old house where Tony is being held . . .**_

"Wh-what? Whaddaya mean 's all your fault?" Tony questioned the dentist after the man admitted to playing a role in the kidnapping. His head throbbed where he had been hit on the base of his skull and now also from his bumpy ride down the stairwell. His leg pain was now bordering on excruciating. The Novocaine portion of the drugs he was given was finally wearing off so though he was still slurring a little, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been earlier.

"Here let me help get you over to sit against that wall over there and then I promise I will tell you everything. I – I will need to check that leg though. I don't like the angle it was in when you landed. Doesn't that hurt like a son-of-a-bitch?"

"H-helll yesss it hurts! What the hell do **you** th-think?" Tony barked, pain causing his mood to become even more cantankerous than before. The dentist shook his head for being so stupid as to even ask the agent that question. It was obvious that his leg was broken.

Lucky for Tony, even though Michael Kincaid wasn't a full fledged doctor - he had been required to take a few medical courses during his studies to become a dentist and obtain his degree, and even though they were still captive and in danger, at least he could help the man in case they did manage to escape or heaven forbid, be found before they were killed. He secretly hoped that by doing all he could to help the agent since it was with his help that the innocent man was forced into this situation in the first place – that maybe the Feds would cut him a deal when they charged him with being a co-conspirator in the kidnapping of a Federal Agent.

'_What was I thinking? I deserve to die for all the grief I've caused so many people_.'' he thought to himself, suddenly thinking of the two people he had driven away when his addiction to gambling had eventually superseded the love he had for his own family. He was still technically married for the time being, his wife had only recently packed up and took herself and their 9 year old daughter to live with her parents with an ultimatum: '_Stop gambling and get help – or I will have to choice but to file for divorce and full custody of Ellie May_' Those were her last words to him before she left. He then thought of his beautiful daughter. They had named her after both his his wife's Mother Ellen and and his own Mom, May. He swore to himself right then that if he could get out of this alive – he would start attending GA (gambler's anonymous) and get his life and his family back together.

A low but horrific groan of pain snapped him back to the present and realizing he was still staring at the agent's leg. Looking at the man's face to see how he was doing he noticed the man's eye's were closed tightly in pain and he could see the shine of the thin layer of sweat on his face even in the almost completely darkened basement. It also looked as though he was about to doze off.

"Look man you need to stay awake. I don't think it's a bad one but I think you have a minor concussion if your uneven pupils are any indication. It's best to err on the side of caution."

Tony forced himself to open his eyes again before replying. "Oh ssure that's easssy for you t' say. Were you the one given drugs to sedate you? . . . No? Ohhh oh _tha'ss _right - _**I was**_!" Tony was angry now. The more he thought about the role this man had played in this whole charade, the more angry he had become. He knew now by the way he felt, that whatever drugs this man had forced on him – they had definitely contained more than just Novocaine and laughing gas. Was this guy really now trying to get him to trust him? For real?

"Okay, okay. I know you are angry and you have every right to be! What I did to help those jerks upstairs today . . . I feel awful about but you don't know -" he paused. "Look I told you I would explain everything and I will. But right now I need you to just let me help you okay? I promise I'll tell you everything then . . .and - I'm sorry about the sedating drugs I had to give you. You don't understand, **I had no choice**! If I didn't do what they said, they were going to hurt my-. No, I said I'd tell you later and I will . . . now are you going to let me help you?"

Tony was in too much pain to argue with the man, not to mention still too tired. He conceded by nodding his head in agreement which he regretted as soon as he had done it. His head wasn't so happy with the movement either. He closed his eyes again just to rest them for a minute and listened to the dentist's instructions.

"Okay, now I'm afraid I will need to straighten that leg out. It will help with the pain I assure you. Then I can look for something down here that I might be able to use as a splint. Okay? Then I will also to take a look at that hand once we get your leg set."

"M' hand's fine." Tony whispered as if too weak to speak at a higher volume.

"Well, even though it's not bleeding as much and seems to be clotting over – I need to get it wrapped to avoid any more dirt getting into the cut and causing infection. You probably just don't feel it hurting as much because your leg pain has surpassed it."

Then he added, "Want me to find you something to bite down on? This is going to hurt more for a few seconds before it feels better and I don't know about you but, I'm not ready to do anything that might cause those two to come back down here just yet."

"Yeah yeah I hear ya. Sure just make sure whatever you give me – it's semi clean." Tony instructed as he let his head lay slowly back down against the hard floor. He closed his eyes for what seemed like a couple of seconds before he felt his head being lifted up again. He opened his eyes and realized it was just the dentist placing something soft under his head before gently laying it back down. The softness underneath his throbbing skull felt like heaven. He looked back over at the dentist who wasn't wearing his white lab-type coat any longer, now only wearing a basic light blue dress shirt and dark Navy slacks. Noticing the man's fancy leather belt reminded Tony of his own belt that thankfully had not been removed so far.

"Ww-wait – I need ya to do me a fav-." Tony was about ready to tell the man about the knife he had hidden in his belt but then he stopped mid-sentence as his gut warned him that this whole thing of sticking him down here with the dentist could just be some kind of trick. Hell, the man had just finished telling him he played a role in all of this so how could he trust him with a weapon? He decided to wait until he heard the man's explanation before deciding if he would ask for his help in pulling the knife out and cutting off the duct tape that still bound his hands.

"Yes?" Kincaid finally prodded him to continue after Tony had paused for a few seconds too long,"Were you going to ask me for a favor?"

"Uh . . . yeah." Tony had to think of something fast or risk letting the man sense his sudden doubts It's nothing really - I uh, was just gonna ask . . . well, when you straighten out my leg . . . uh well just do it quickly."

"Oh sure, of course." Kincaid promised.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**I know it's a tad shorter than usual but I thought that might be a nice change. I will get another update done this week after I post my "Matter OF Life & Death" update. Pls keep the reviews coming! I Thank you!**_


	10. Tests, Trepidation & Triage

_**Author's Note: **__In this chapter Abby had already been informed that Tony was missing when McGee and Ziva brought her the evidence they had collected – including the initial blood samples. I hope you like this one, I tried to put a lot of details in this chapter - especially with Tony and the dentist in the basement. ~ Enjoy ~_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

"_Yes?" Kincaid finally prodded him to continue after Tony had paused for a few seconds too long,"Were you going to ask me for a favor?"_

"_Uh . . . yeah." Tony had to think of something fast or risk letting the man sense his sudden doubts It's nothing really - I uh, was just gonna ask . . . well, when you straighten out my leg . . . uh well just do it quickly." _

"_Oh sure, of course." Kincaid promised._

**_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Ten**

_**NCIS Headquarters ~ Abby's Lab . . .**_

Ducky and Gibbs walked into Abby's lab to the sound of quiet symphonic orchestra type of music that bordered on depressing in it's melodies. Very unlike the usual blast of rock music the Gothic scientist usually favored.

Abby's back was to the door but she immediately turned around and sprinted towards Gibbs having spotted the two men from their reflection on the shiny stainless steel surface of one of her beloved machines – the one that was used for testing blood, toxins and other chemical components. She threw herself at her boss with the force of a small tornado leaving Gibbs stunned but not at all surprised by her actions. He had become accustomed to Abby's need for comfort when any team member was in danger though she had a unique and special bond with Tony since they were Gibbs only team for quite a while along with Ducky.

"Abs I -"

"No! Gibbs no - I don't want to hear anything except that you found him! Please, tell me you found him." she pleaded, her last few words slightly muffled by Gibbs shoulder where her face was now buried. Ducky watched with empathy wondering how Gibbs was going to reply, knowing how devastated Abby would be.

"I wish I could Abs, but look, have I ever failed to find DiNozzo any other time he's gone missing?"

Abby released him, sniffing loudly as she tried to hold back her tears. "Well . . . no." she looked sadly towards the floor.

"That's right. But who's help do I usually need the most in order for me to do that?"

"Um . . . mine?" she answered him in the childlike voice she sometimes resorted to when things started to become overwhelming.

"Abee-gayle." Ducky typically referred to everyone by their full first name, always speaking proper English as a result of his Scottish and English upbringing. "Why dare I ask, do you have this rather depressing music playing? Although I quite enjoy the change from your usual rather vibrating rock music, it could be a little more upbeat in it's rhythm."

"Sorry Duck – I just wasn't in the mood for anything upbeat. I mean how can I be upbeat when Tony's hurt and could be – he . . . could be."

"Abby – he's not. Okay? Got it?" Gibbs seemed to know when to scold Abby, giving her some tough love as best he knew how. "But he will be if we don't get moving! Now, enough mourning - turn off that damn funeral music and tell me whatcha got!"

Abby and Ducky stood wide eyed, but they were more caught off guard by the underlying nervousness that they both detected in Gibbs' voice. He didn't often raise his voice to Ducky and Abby but on the rare times that he did, they both knew him well enough to know that he wasn't directing his anger towards them on purpose or with malice. The tone of his voice combined with the sight of the obviously taught muscles that were clenching frequently in his jaw made it was very clear to both of them that he was clearly just as anxious and worried about Tony as they all were.

That's all Abby needed to snap her out of her funk and get herself back in the game! Turning back into professional work mode she immediately started informing them of her findings.

"Okay I was given a total of four different samples so far of the blood found at the scene. Unfortunately, they are all from the same person . . . th- they all came from – Tony." staying in work mode was difficult when everything she had found so far didn't look very good for Tony. Gibbs eyes closed for barely a second as he shook his head in disappointment over the confirmation. Even though his gut had already told him as much, he still needed to hear the facts.

"Okay Abby as bad as it seems, I don't want you worrying about that right now. Focus on the positive, it was not a large volume of blood that we found and Ducky has already confirmed that whatever injuries Tony_ does_ have, they don't appear to be anywhere near life threatening at this point. Okay? Ya got that?"

"Abigail Jethro is correct. You need not worry about that now, I have quite a lot of confidence in Anthony and he always seems to come through these . . . challenges, as right as rain. Now what of the tox screens that you ran? Anything turn up on those?" Ducky asked, purposely trying to get her mind to focus back on what still needed to be done. Time wasn't a luxury that had on their side at the moment.

"Okay Duck. Well I just got the report from my best baby right before you came in here. Sorry guys, you know I love all of you just as much . . . you are all m-." Abby distracted herself by stopping to look around and apologizing to all of her fancy machines for having named the Mas-spectrometer as her favorite.

"Abby!"

"Uh, oh sorry Gibbs! Anyway there were three different drugs that showed up, all at various levels. He was drugged Gibbs - Tony was drugged!" she looked at her boss again with her eyes as wide as ever and shining from the unsheathed tears that were forming again. Gibbs and Ducky glanced over at each other, both thinking the same thing, But it was Ducky who voiced it out loud.

"Abigail, Anthony was at the dentist my dear. It is quite normal for one to be given some low levels of drugs such as Novocaine, Nitric Oxide for instance. - some times at higher doses depending on the patient's tolerance among other things." he explained hoping to ease her mind.

"No Ducky . . . Gibbs – this was more than that! I found traces of Valium as well and I know even the highest dosages that dentists usually gives their patients! We had a whole course on this stuff in college! We were trained that if we had a victim who died of an apparent drug overdose for example, we had to be able to rule out the victim's doctors or dentists – or in some cases prove their involvement in the death. I'm telling you Tony had way more stuff in his system than a dentist would ever give even a patient with the most infected and rotten teeth in the world!" she was talking so fast at this point that both men struggled to keep up.

"Abby take a deep breath. Gibbs ordered, "I think I get the gist of what you're saying but – can you tell if they may have used those to knock him out?"

"No, not at all Gibbs. The levels of drugs I found so far would have been enough to make him drowsy as hell but – definitely not powerful enough to knock him out completely."

"Okay well, I have one more sample for you Abs." He reached into his coat pocket and produced an evidence baggie that contained a clear plastic vial that held the actual swab used to collect the blood sample.

"It's a safe bet that this also came from Tony but this one was found _outside_ the building, obviously when they took Tony out the back door. It's not a lot but just compare it to the other samples and see if any new drugs were given to him or maybe just a higher dose of something to put him out right before leaving. You both know as well as I do that they could never have gotten Tony outta there conscious without a fight. So my bet is - he _wasn't_ conscious."

Abby simply stared at the vial of blood in Gibbs hands as salty teardrops once again started to quickly invade her large jade green eyes until they and finally spilled over leaving a trail of runny black liquid from her disintegrating mascara. Just being reminded of what Tony had gone through was enough of a trigger to set her off. But then almost just as quickly, Abby shook her head as if to physically shake off her own sadness and worry before wiping away the wetness using one of her extra long sleeves that stopped just above her knuckles and quickly turning back into her tough and serious Abby mode.

Having known and worked with Abby for so long that Gibbs and Ducky were no longer shocked by her ability to go from sad and crying, to professional and focused in the flash of an eye. In fact those were some of the traits Gibbs found most admirable about their talented little scientist.

"Okay I'm okay now but don't leave Gibbs, I know you need this fast so let me check this sample now." She grabbed the the evidence bag from his hands pulling out the vial and literally running it over to place in the Mass-Spec. Gibbs was anxious to go check on Ziva and McGee's progress but knew he couldn't leave without knowing exactly what the last blood sample showed. He knew it was Tony's – his gut had already told him that at the scene, but he did need to know if they had given him enough drugs to render him unconscious or not.

In just minutes the printer kicked on as it started to automatically spit out the report telling Abby every toxin, drug or other foreign substance that the latest sample contained. Her face dropped as she looked at the findings.

"What is it Abs. What's wrong?"

"Uhm well it's . . . ohhh - Tony, Tony, Tonyyy."

"Abby WHAT – IS – IT? What did you find?"

"Sorry Gibbs. But this sample shows the exact same levels of the same drugs as all of the other samples. Do you know what I'm saying Gibbs? Do you _**know**_ what that _**means**_? Th-that . . . that would m-mean . . . he -" her words slowed as the full gravity of Tony's situation struck her once again.

"I got it Abs. I know."

Gibbs purposely cut her off, saving her from having to say it out loud. He knew she was going to say that if the levels of drugs had definitely not been enough to knock Tony out, that for Tony to be taken without a fight it could only mean one thing - he would have had to have been knocked unconscious, the hard way.

"Okay Gibbs - please go – just find him and bring him back. I'll finish processing the rest of the evidence and the tire tracks and stuff. I got this Gibbs. You and Tony can count on me! I'll do my best work."

Leaning over Gibbs placed a light kiss where Abby's forehead met her hairline before he took his leave to go see how far McGee and Ziva had gotten with their interrogations of the potential witnesses.

_**Kitchen of the house where Tony's being held . . .**_

"We need to figure out the rest of this crazy plan'a yers Cal. When we gonna call this NCIS place and demand some money in return for their agent?" Jesse was getting agitated and anxious – feelings that were further aggravated by the sizable amount of cocaine he had just finished snorting. Drugs were his thing more so than Cal's but when it came to alcohol – Cal was definitely the heavy drinker of the two. It was one of the perks of working for one of the biggest crime bosses in DC, they were able to score whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

"Settle down Jesse! Dammit, lay off the coke for a while would ya? Geez you're annoying enough as it is! Now go use that computer in the living room and look up that NCIS office so I can place the call an' give me some damn space! I gotta think for a minute – alone!" he barked as he grabbed the nearby whiskey bottle he always seemed to have on hand and gulped down a third of the brand new bottle, sucking air in through clenched teeth after he swallowed the burning firewater.

"Fine! But we still gonna ask for more like we talked about?" Jesse was referring to the ransom. He and Cal had discussed asking for a lot more than they initially planned since a lot of the money would go to their boss in payment for Kincaid's gambling debt. The new plan would also leave Cal and Jesse with a nice nest egg as well.

After only receiving a glare from Cal Jesse finally did as he was told and once he was online he started looking up not only the NCIS office but a few other things he decided would be worth looking into.

_**Down in the basement . . .**_

"Mmnnohh – aahh."

Kincaid had barely started to turn away from Tony to go look for any supplies he could find down there to use to help fix up the agent as best he could when he heard the painful moan and turned back towards Tony. What is it? Is it your leg? Does it hurt worse?"

"Mmnnno-oo ss'my tooth. Sstill huurts like helll . . .thought'ya fixed it." Tony stated feebly, reaching his duct tape tied hands up to hold his jaw. The painful pressure from his abscess tooth had been somewhat alleviated by the dentist's pinhole sized incisions earlier, but since the dentist never got to finish treating the tooth infection completely – or get him started on the lengthy course of heavy duty antibiotics he needed, the part of the infection that had already encompassed his jaw and cheekbone were still throbbing like crazy.

And even though his tooth had still been lazily draining somewhat now and then - and now with no gauze in his mouth to absorb the drainage Tony had no choice but to just swallow whatever still seeped out which only added to the nausea he was feeling from that combined with the overload of various drugs in his system.

"I'm sorry, I really did try to get as much done as I could before – well, you know. Listen, let me finish looking around and see what kind of supplies I can find down here. Maybe we'll luck out and find a first aid kit or something. Then I will see if there's any more I can do for your tooth. I still say the priority is to take care of that leg before you get any stiffer. Your pain may not seem as bad right now due to the drugs still in your system – but trust me when those wear off you-"

"Yeah yeah Doc – then I'll _**reaally**_ be hurting – I get it. Th-thanks for lettin' me knnow what I have t' look forward tooo – now just get movin' would'ya? We don'hav much time."

Michael started moving again but slowly due to the darkness. Tony called out to him in a louder whisper than before and suggested he check at the top of the stairs for a light switch. He had a feeling that the power wasn't shut off so there should be a way to turn the basement lights on. Kincaid followed the instruction and was happy to find that the agent instincts had been right. The light was not glaring in it's brightest being that there was but one small, single bulb-ed light fixture hanging from the unfinished ceiling, but it was more than enough to allow him to look around and hopefully find what he needed. Working quickly he was back at Tony's side within minutes. Tony looked up at him once he felt Kincaid's presence beside him.

"Ya get whatcha need?"

"Yeah, somewhat I guess. I got something you can bite down on when I give you the go ahead." he proudly announced. "I know that's gonna hurt that sore jaw you have but I have a feeling that pain will pale in comparison to the pai-."

"Hey! Listen doc, no offense but can we skip the narration?" Tony interrupted him knowing full well what the rest of the sentence would be. The last thing he needed was this guy reminding him of just how much this was going to hurt!

"Oh sorry. Jus' thought I'd give you a head's up." Kincaid tried to explain. Tony reached out with his non-injured hand and took the short, slim piece of unfinished plywood that the dentist handed to him. Upon closer inspection Tony realized it appeared to be unpainted baseboard trim that he knew was used to add a clean and neatly finished look on the bottom of a wall. It wasn't going to taste pleasant by any means but in Tony's opinion it was a helluva lot better than a lot of other nasty and possibly dirty things that the man could have found for him to bite down on.

Looking across the basement space Tony could now see where Michael had found the '_supplies_'. There was a pile of fairly new lumber remnants that included wooden baseboard trim in various lengths and widths that must have been left over when the walls of the small basement space has been somewhat finished. He had grabbed a couple of longer pieces of the thin but very sturdy trim to use to splint the agent's broken leg and keep the newly realigned bones in place. Finding a couple of rolls of duct tape with a lot of the other remodeling supplies he decided that would do just the trick. He would simply wrap some strips around Tony's leg to hold the wooden trim in place effectively splinting the man's leg.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N – Sorry, I kind of hate cliffies like that when I am reading other stories because I don't want to wait to find out what happened. But it just feels even more wrong not to take advantage of a great stopping place when I find one so perfect. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as it did move the story further along to the point where it will just get more intense and dangerous in the next few chapters. I won't make this story too long though. **_

_**Please keep the awesome reviews coming! :-) THANK YOU!**_


	11. Dangerous Discoveries

_**A/N: Special thank you to combatcrazy** for catching an error I made regarding Kincaid and being handcuffed. I immediately rewrote the scene so that they did end up removing his cuffs before leaving him at the top of the stairwell to the basement. You can go back and read that scene again if you want to – it was in Chapter 8 about half way into it. SORRY for delay in posting any updates, after writing half of this chapter my computer didn't save my changes even though I have it set to auto save every 30 seconds. I had been so happy with what I had written and was devastated when I couldn't recover it. I rememebered most of it though so hope you enjoy. Also - trying to find a job too and interviewing had to take first priority. _

_**GOOD NEWS: **You get this at the end of this chapter. It's regarding a bonus update. **Not as good news**: This chapter is still longer than most people prefer but I couldn't stop and had too many people to update (criminals/NCIS/Tony). _

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

Tony lifted his arm and shakily placed the trim in his mouth, waiting for the inevitable. Michael positioned himself near Tony's right lower leg and placed two pieces of the plywood trip that was surprisingly cut at near matching lengths putting one along either side of Tony's leg and then laying a roll of duct tape within reach hoping to do this quickly to lessen the man's suffering. He then readied his hands by placing one hand firmly against Tony's upper leg to hold it in place while he used his right hand to snap the lower leg back straight and in line with his knee. Right now, it definitely wasn't doing that.

"Okay here we go. Go ahead and bite down and I'll go on the count of three." he instructed Tony. But to Tony's complete shock things didn't quite go according to the man's plan.

**_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Eleven**

_**In The Basement With Tony and Kincaid . . .**_

CRACK!

Tony let out a muffled scream while biting down on the wood in his mouth so hard that he left imprints of his teeth on the strip of plywood. His eyes had opened as wide as a full moon from the shock of having his leg yanked back in alignment before he had even heard counts two and three, and less than 3 seconds later - he passed out completely from the pain and shock. His last conscious thought was that the man setting his leg had lied to him. He was supposed to count to three before setting the broken bone, so in those few seconds right before Tony passed out, he wondered what else the man was lying about.

Kincaid felt bad but unbeknown to Tony he had intentionally omitted numbers two and three from the countdown because he knew the agent would naturally tense up more with each announced number which would only make setting his leg even more dangerous and difficult. If he allowed the man time to tense up too much, it would substantially increase the risk of causing further damage to his ligaments and even his knee joint when he tried to jerk the limb back in place. He had expected him to pass out and wanting to take advantage of that he worked quickly to align the pieces of wood against each side of the agent's lower leg and then using the duct tape he affixed the make shift splints in place supporting the now perfectly aligned broken bone.

Mike was never more thankful in his life that he had the medical and surgical training he had to take in order to become an oral surgeon. He didn't think he ever would have attempted to set a broken leg if he hadn't had the extensive schooling.

Then he sat back and waited for him to come back around, his own adrenaline burst wearing off fast and leaving him exhausted. The stress from the frightening events of the day combined with the anxiety he felt right before setting the leg, had left him depleted and too tired to move. He leaned up against the wall next to where the agent was slumped over and just watched him, waiting for signs that he was coming around since he knew he would probably not be out for longer than a few minutes.

_**Upstairs In The Kitchen Area . . .**_

Jesse had pulled up the NCIS website and jotted down the address of the main office as well as phone numbers for the main switchboard as well as a direct line to the Major Crimes unit. He had also found some other interesting facts online when he did some other searches as well. He didn't trust his partner Cal as far as he could throw him – and that was not far. He felt he needed to have some ammunition of his own to use if Cal decided to betray him in any way if their plan fell apart for any reason so he took a few more minutes to do some other searches hoping to learn a little more about the agent they had kidnapped.

He was secretly impressed by some of the things he read while at the same time he also found himself becoming a little more nervous after seeing several articles and press releases that had popped up online, that portrayed an agent who went outside the box, sometimes even going so far as to break the rules in order to catch a dangerous criminal. But what concerned Jesse the most was the general consensus from the entire compilation of articles – they all pointed to this Agent DiNozzo as being fearless. Fearless to the point of risking his own life numerous times just to rescue or save others from harm.

He knew for a fact he had the right agent when one press release had included a picture of the dashing agent sporting a black jacket and matching NCIS baseball cap. Jesse continued reading wanting to learn more about their prisoner so he could be better prepared to handle the seemingly ingenious agent. The next article he found told the story of how the man had single-handedly rescued his own boss and another young woman in freezing water of the Potomac after their car had become submerged. Both victims had nearly drowned or as in his bosses case, had actually succeeded in drowning only to be brought back to life by the determined Agent DiNozzo – who the article mentioned was his second in command. Quite impressive on one hand but on the other – it made Jesse nervous to know that this guy they had downstairs seemed to be unafraid of any danger and often risking his own life without a moment's thought just to save others. He moved on to the next bit of news until he felt he had found just what he had hoped to find. Something that help him to get him away from Cal and their boss forever and flee the Country when all was said and done.

Pushing himself away from the computer he walked towards the kitchen until he found himself standing at the archway where he could see Cal putting the whiskey bottle back up to his lips and noticing that he had already consumed nearly half of the new bottle.

"Geez Cal! What the hell are you doing? You yell at me about a little coke and yet you are allowed to get half plastered on whiskey! How the hell do you expect NCIS to take you seriously when you are three sheets to the wind? You're a damn fool!" Jesse exploded, his anger being fueled on by the fact that his earlier cocaine binge was starting to wear off, a situation that almost always made him more edgy and nervous.

Cal looked at him with his eyes half closed groggy from the sedating effect that the alcohol had on him right before it changed and made him feel wound up, agitated and hyperactive. "Jesse shut the hell up! I don't need you babysitting me and telling me what I can and cannot do! You seem to be forgetting that I am the one in charge here! You should be doing whatever I tell you to do or trust me when I say this – you won't like the consequences! Now get down there an' check on those two numbskulls in the basement! It seems too quiet all of a sudden!."

"Fine! Ignore me then and if it makes you feel like a big man to be in charge then you just keep thinkin' that you are!" Jesse fired back as he turned towards the area where the door leading to the basement was located. Then added a last warning under his breath once he knew he was out of ear shot from his inebriated partner.

"Yeah, we'll see who's the big man after I implement my own plan Cal. You just wait!"

_**Back In The Basement Of The House . . .**_

The first thing Tony became aware of was the pain in his hand and the back of his head. Then he realized that was a good thing since the last time he was conscious it was the pain of his broken leg that surpassed all other pain from his other injuries. That also had to mean that the setting of the broken bones had been successful. Or so he hoped. Lifting his head up he spotted the makeshift splint the dentist must have done while he was . . . dozing. He was impressed at the very precise way the man had completed the job. It was obvious he paid attention to details and perhaps was a bit of a perfectionist. The boards he had used were almost even in length and he had neatly tied them to his leg using some of the duct tape he had found.

"How are you feeling? Leg feel any better?"

Tony looked over to his right to see the dentist staring at him in concern.

"Nah it's fine. Much better than before. Does that mean it worked? Were you able to set my leg okay?"

"Yes and I knew it would alleviate your pain significantly and the circulation will improve as well. I apologize for tricking you with the counting. I just find that it's best not to tense up before broken bones are set and it's human nature to tense right before you know something's coming. Had I let you get to three then not only would the pain have been a hundred times worse but – there's also a risk that tensed up ligaments can be torn when jerking the bones back into place. The memory of not hearing numbers two and three and how mad he had been before he succumbed to the pain, flooded Tony's memory.

He tentatively and barely flexed the foot of his injured leg which proved to be his worst idea all day as he seemed to forget that the broken bone as well as any surrounding ligaments and tendons – all connected to that very foot. "AAHHH **DAMN!**" he managed to still keep his voice quiet even though it was obvious the move had been excruciating. Ironic to his next words his own face had once again become peppered with tiny beads of sweat just from the sheer pain.

"No sweat doc. That actually makes sense now that you explained it. Now, we need to come up with a plan to get outta here and to do that, I need to know everything you know about those two goons upstairs." Tony kicked into Agent mode again. "Starting with - who do they work for?"

"Uh, well I have heard he's one of DC's biggest crime bosses though I hadn't been aware of that when I borrowed some money to feed my gambling habit. I only found out later when these two were sent to collect on my debt. H-his name is . . . Hernando Elianzo Delgado. (h-air-nando / eli-ontzo / del-god-o)

Tony's eyed grew wide and his face blanched even more than it had already been. That was one dangerous SOB they were dealing with. That man didn't mess around and was known for the violent ways in which he had anyone who betrayed him brutally murdered yet to date no one had been able to tie him to any of the murders. The man was borderline genius – but genius to the point of being slightly off kilter while at the same time allowing him the knowledge to always stay at least ten steps ahead of law enforcement.

I didn't have the money so they gave me one more chance to get it but – well I tried to get the money but I just . . . well, I just didn't have that kind of cash no matter what I did to come up with it. Then today after they left me with a warning and a new deadline, they came back in after one of them recognized you. They threatened to harm my family if I didn't help them and they made it sound so simple that I didn't think of what might happen to you. They said they would get enough money in ransom to not only pay my debt to their boss which would put them in his good graces again – but then they said they would get extra money and split the remainder giving each of us a third of the remaining ransom." Kincaid's head hung down in shame throughout the entire but a abbreviated explanation.

"Gosh, hearing myself saying this out loud just . . . just makes me feel ashamed of myself. IS this what I have become? Have I let my addiction to gambling destroy what's left of my life? Hell I already am close to losing my wife and daughter and if I even life – once news of this comes out, **no one** will want to come see me as a dentist."

"Look you are getting far too ahead of yourself here. Just calm down for a minute would ya?" Tony found himself consoling the very man responsible for their current situation. "If you keep helping me and do everything I tell you to do, then I will help make sure that the press only hears the good things you did. We have ways of getting the press not to print certain factors such as your gambling and your involvement. It's something we do only for people we think can be reformed if they assist us in catching a criminal, and in your case this crime boss you mention would be quite a catch! Every agency has been trying to build a case against the guy and put him away for life!"

"Of course, I will do any-"

The dentist's words were cut off prematurely by the sound of the door above them being slammed open and hitting against the banister of the stairwell. Looking up they saw one of the captors making his way down the stairs with a gun in one hand and Tony became slightly nauseous when he spotted what looked like a hunting knife in the other.

_**NCIS Headquarters ~ Bullpen . . .**_

"McGee!"

"Boss, I found the only other employee from the clinic." Tim had answered his bosses' unspoken question knowing just by the tone of his voice that he was demanding a sitrep. "Her name is Vanessa Jenkins and she's on her way down here now. While I had her on the phone I had her confirm that we had not missed any patients who had appointments this morning."

"Good thinking McGee. Status of the other patients?" Gibbs questioned, he wanted to make sure they were all interviewed as soon as possible.

"We were also able to reach all but one of them but I left a message informing her to contact us immediately regarding an urgent matter. The other three are on their way down."

Before Gibbs had even turned towards Ziva she had proactively started giving him her own report since he had trained them to anticipate and always try to stay one second ahead of him.

"Kincaid has a wife and nine year old Daughter. Names – Leslie and Jacinda, nickname 'Cindy'. I called their residence but the call went to voice mail. They could be missing as well for all we know so -**."**

"Put out another BOLO on the wife and daughter. Have a local LEO sent out to the residence to -"

"Already done." Ziva interrupted him just as he had done to her. No one else might have been so bold as to interrupt Gibbs but Ziva was different, unknowingly slipping to her old rogue ways every now and then. "Sorry Gibbs uh, wasn't quite finished. Local LEO's will contact us if they find any evidence of forced entry or foul play. They have orders to station themselves outside of the house until further notice and will bring the dentist's family straight to NCIS if they come home."

"Good. That's good thinking David." He was always more complimentary than usual when they had a teammate missing or injured. It was the only time he was unable to contain his softer side even though he still wasn't '_gushy_' by any means and he only allowed himself to show it in short bursts but then always went back to his stern Gibbs mode.

"In the meantime they might be in danger themselves! We can't sit and wait for them to return home and waste time that we don't have! We need to FIND them and get them in here! They might be in danger as well!" Gibbs ordered – now shifting back to his worried mode which was obviously making him cranky. Everyone had noticed he seemed to get crabbier with each passing hour that went by with still no phone call from any kidnappers. Gibbs knew in his gut that whomever took Tony would call to demand either ransom of some kind - or release of some prisoner that he or DiNozzo – or even both of them working together on a past case, had put away. Another thing that caused his anxiety to soar and his mood to nosedive, was that they still hadn't gotten any hits on the BOLO's they had put out on both DiNozzo and Kincaid. That was not a good sign.

All three of their heads turned when a Security Officer from the lobby entered the bullpen followed by a young attractive woman in her early twenties.

"Agent Gibbs sir, I escorted this lovely young lady up here, she said she was told to report to you." Gibbs who was now seated at his own desk, looked over towards Ziva's desk and took in the appearance of the young woman who looked nervous and scared. He knew she must be the dentist's assistant. Rising up from his seat he walked around his desk to stand inches from the guard's face. "Thank you. But what did I tell you about calling me sir Arnold?"

"Oh uhh . . . sorry si-. . . sorry Agent Gibbs." He answered nervously since he had only been working at NCIS for about 5 months and he still hadn't gotten used to the man who led the agency's top investigating team.

"Fine. I'll take it from here. I'm expecting three more people so I want you to deliver one of them to an empty interrogation room when they get here, the other can wait in an empty conference room. Just get them some water and tell them someone will be with them shortly – then inform Ziva and McGee. Ya think you can do that?"

"Yes of course Agent Gibbs. I got it covered." with that the man left and Gibbs turned his attention towards the young woman before him. He led her to one of the open interrogation rooms where there was already a can of unopened soda waiting on the table. "I hope you like that kind, I appreciate your coming down here so fast – the least I could do it give you something to drink." he explained.

Vanessa opened the can and downed a third of it in one long gulp. Her nerves left her with a mouth as dry as cotton without any hangover to blame. "What's going on Agent Gibbs? I wasn't really told much of anything other than there was an incident at the clinic and I was required to come in for questioning."

Gibbs explained to her gently that her boss Mr. Michael Kincaid appeared to be missing along with a Federal Agent that he informed her was his second in command. He told her there was obvious signs of foul play and that he needed to know exactly what she saw or heard during the short time she was there before the dentist had apparently sent everyone home. Gibbs knew from his experience interviewing thousands upon thousands of witnesses over the years, that sometimes it was the tiniest detail that ended up giving them the best leads and on occasion - even breaking the case. It took talent to be able to draw out every single word, gesture, observation and sound that the witness could recall regardless of how long it took - even if it didn't seem odd, suspicious or even dangerous to them at the time.

"Dr. Mike is missing? Oh my God, what happened? Wait, so that good looking super nice guy Tony – er Mr. DiNozzo – is an agent? Why would he be missing too? Was it some kind of robbery gone bad? I mean like – really, who would want to hurt either of them?" her head was spinning with so many questions since she had only been gone from the clinic for just over two hours and couldn't believe all that had happened after she left.

"Yes . . . Mr. DiNozzo is one of ours, one of mine – and yes unfortunately both of them are missing at the moment but we're doing everything we can to find them but we need your help. Time is of the utmost importance so I need you to be strong and just focus so that you don't miss_** any**_ details." Gibbs explained, anxious to get out of this room and check on the progress the rest of his team was hopefully making.

"Yes of course I will do anything that I can to help." Gibbs could see that she was struggling not to let the tears that were starting to build up in her blue eyes, fall. He knew she was scared and worried but trying so hard to be strong.

"Listen to me, I **will **find them before any more bad stuff can happen to them - okay?" he spoke to her gently and using again his rare soft voice. The voice his team never heard except for when Kate had died or when any one of them were injured or in danger. But there was something about Vanessa that reminded him of Kelly. Had she lived she would be close to this young woman's age and Vanessa also possessed similar features and hair color to his long lost daughter which saddened him yet gave him an odd sense of peace at the same time.

"Okay. Wow this is just crazy I'm . . . just . . . sorry I am kind of overwhelmed right now. Where do you want me to start?"

It only took about twenty five minutes for her to tell Gibbs absolutely everything she had observed, heard or done during the few hours she had been in the clinic. She mentioned the two men whom had been in there before but never had appointments for dental work, or a scheduled meeting with the dentist in general. She said she just stayed out of it thinking it had something to do with some remodeling her boss had been doing on his home. But she admitted they seemed to run off in a hurry that morning and recalled noticing that one of them had roughly bumped right into Tony in his haste to leave.

Gibbs asked her if she felt she could describe the two men in enough detail that someone within NCIS would be able to render a composite drawing that could be used to put out yet another BOLO. She nodded, smiling brightly because she finally felt like this was something big that she could do to help them find the men. Before Gibbs wrapped things up and get her down to Abby to create computerized images of the men, Vanessa had one last question that had just popped into her head and she just had to know.

"Agent Gibbs . . . so they uhm, they aren't uh." she struggled to say the words out loud.

"No. They are _**not **_dead. All of the evidence we have so far leads us to believe they are alive and the evidence doesn't lie."

"Okay, good. But . . . do you know if either of them were hurt or anything like that? I mean, I don't know how someone could grab both of them – your agent and my boss just seemed . . . well, they both seemed like big strong men for the most part."

Gibbs pondered on sharing any specific details but he knew he had to ease the young woman's mind. "We did find some evidence of a struggle and some blood - but none of the evidence points to it being your boss who was injured so I'm sorry but - we also have to look into the fact that he may have had something to do with this. I am sorry to tell you that but you need to know the truth. I know it is not what you want to hear but it's best if you know the facts. "

"So that would mean you think the blood came from your agent . . . from Tony. Gosh that's awful! Boy that's not going to help him get over his phobia at all!" her words caught Gibbs a little off guard. He had no idea that Tony even_ had_ a phobia of dentist's which is what he assumed she was referring to. How could he have worked with him for all these years and never known about that? He thought to himself.

Vanessa caught the look of surprise on the handsome silver haired man across from her. "I take it you didn't know about that. Yeah, he said he has had a bit of a phobia ever since he had a really bad experience with a dentist when he was just a kid. I was impressed though at how well he kept it hidden for the most part. I mean most patients with dental phobia's are in a state of near panic before the dentist even comes into the room."

Gibbs withheld a grin as he realized that if anyone could hide their own fear or any other emotion for that matter – it was DiNozzo!

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**IMPORTANT A/N:** I had an awesome place to end this chapter with a great cliffhanger but the chapter was WAY too long. So I decided to post this part and then the next chapter will be short and sweet just so I can use the chapter ending I have already written and have ready to post. I will post that chapter in about 5 hours from now give or take. Sorry this chapter is still pretty long._

_**Pls review! :-)**_


	12. A Family Comes Together

**Quick Note To Other NCIS Fanfic Writers: **I have to say this because it's driving me crazy every time I see it in stories. When referring to Agent Gibbs – he is the LEAD AGENT – NOT the Senior Agent or Senior Field Agent. I think people get confused using the word "Senior" thinking since Gibbs is the oldest then he must be the "Senior" agent when his true position should be referred to as LEAD agent. I can't believe how many stories mis-use the title. Tony is the Senior Field Agent meaning the one with the most experience and tenure under Gibbs. Thanks for getting it right in the future. :-) hee Sorry if I missed any errors! I re-wrote a couple sections so that is usually when I miss some boo boos.

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia: **_"So that would mean you think the blood came from your agent . . . from Tony. Gosh that's awful! Boy that's not going to help him get over his phobia at all!" her words caught Gibbs a little off guard. He had no idea that Tony even_ had_ a phobia of dentist's which is what he assumed she was referring to. How could he have worked with him for all these years and never known about that? He thought to himself.

Vanessa caught the look of surprise on the handsome silver haired man across from her. "I take it you didn't know about that. Yeah, he said he has had a bit of a phobia ever since he had a really bad experience with a dentist when he was just a kid. I was impressed though at how well he kept it hidden for the most part. I mean most patients with dental phobia's are in a state of near panic before the dentist even comes into the room."

Gibbs withheld a grin as he realized that if anyone could hide their own fear or any other emotion for that matter – it was DiNozzo!

**_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Twelve**

_**NCIS Headquarters ~ Abby's Lab . . .**_

After wrapping up his interview with Vanessa at least for the time being, knowing they might need her again later since sometimes they uncovered new information that led to more questions – he escorted her down to see Abby so they could get started on the computer composite of the two men in question. Once they got down there Gibbs turned to head back up to the bullpen and was halfway out the door when Vanessa yelled out to him.

"Oh wait Agent Gibbs! I um, just thought of something else that you might need to know. Uh . . . Dr. Mike didn't know I knew this but uh, well I – I think he had a bit of a gambling problem. I don't know if that helps but – I kind of accidentally overheard part of a phone conversation he was having when I picked up the wrong line once. He was fighting with his wife and I heard her threaten to leave him when I first picked up the phone. She said she couldn't take his gambling anymore and that it had to stop. But . . . then I hung up cuz I felt like I was invading their privacy ya know?"

Gibbs walked back over to her and placed a very fast and barely there kiss on the top of her blonde bangs. He hoped it didn't come across as inappropriate since he only meant it as a thank you for a job well done – it brought back memories of when he used to do the same thing to his daughter whenever she had done something special or that made him proud. "Miss Jenkins you may very well have just supplied us with a possible motive for this whole thing. That's a damn good job!" With that he turned and like a shot he headed towards the elevator.

As soon as he arrived back in the bullpen Ziva and McGee immediately started to bring him up to speed on the outcome of their own interviews and both admitted that their witnesses had been nothing of the sort. Of the three people they had met with, unfortunately none of them had noticed much of anything. At least anything out of the ordinary since all of them were Mom's = there with their children and had either been playing with their toddlers, or reading them a book as one Mother had stated.

Gibbs had decided not to waste time interviewing the children just yet since they had more vital things to focus on – they could always go back to them later if they ran out of leads. He didn't like to subject younger children to the daunting interview process and he didn't like having to interview them in front of a parent or guardian because they always ended up butting in and quickly getting on Gibbs' nerves.

Gibbs had been standing in the bullpen near the flat screen monitor staring at what looked like a phone bill with a log of calls pulled up onscreen most likely from Tim's computer. Without even moving or looking away from the screen towards McGee, Gibbs simply snapped the fingers of his left hand in the direction of Tim's desk wordlessly demanding more information.

"I accessed the phone records for Kincaid looking for any numbers he called frequently. I determined one of the numbers to be that of his wife's cell phone so I'm running a trace on it now."

Gibbs now snapped his fingers of his right hand towards Ziva's desk.

"Abby was able to take the partial tire track mold we found in the alley and recreated the rest of the missing track. She gave me a list of possible vehicles that use that make and model of tire which we were able to narrow down even further by calculating the estimated weight of the vehicle that was determined by how deep into the mud that the tire track went. Ruling out lighter vehicles such as cars and light trucks we finally came up with four possible popular SUV's that could have made the track. McGee and I described the suspected vehicle to all of the witnesses and two of them both recalled seeing a dark blue SUV fitting that description in the rear parking lot where they had to park since part of the front lot was being paved.

"McGee put ou-" Gibbs started.

"BOLO's have already been sent out." Ziva finished.

"What about the City's surveillance video cameras we spotted overlooking the parking lot? Gibbs asked both of them but Ziva knew that was McGee's area of expertise.

"The tapes are being located and sent over here – should have them by end of the day." Tim explained.

"Nope. Not good enough McGee!"

Tim stared at his boss in frustration, how the hell could he possible get them any faster? However, he knew better than to tell his boss that! "Uh, I will call them again and if that doesn't work boss, I'll go down there and find them myself."

"Good McGee – ya think maybe that's what you should have done in the first place? Do ya think Tony can afford us taking the luxury to wait around for something that might help bring him home?"

Gibbs voice was raising and even came very close to cracking which would have given away the intense worry he felt about Tony's well being. All afternoon he had kept pushing those feelings aside because he knew that once he caved into the fear and anxiety over not being able to bring back the one agent who had managed to break past the tough as nails barrier of his long grieving heart m – that he would never be able to regain his focus and his team's faith would automatically follow suit. He knew that in order to keep his team from being crumbled by their own worry he had to remain stoic, focused and strong.

Then just the very mention of Tony brought his mind swirling back, unable to stop himself from thinking of what Tony might be going through, worried about how and what his injuries were. He thought back to the scalpel type of instrument they had found on the floor of the clinic. It was later confirmed that the blood covering the sharp edge of the tool had also unfortunately come from Tony and according to Ducky, the blood was far too dark to be just from his mouth. The ME had explained that the darker hue would indicate a deeper wound, a penetrating flesh wound. They all knew this meant that Tony had been stabbed with the instrument – the question was, _where_ on his body had he been stabbed?

Thankfully Ducky deduced that, had he been stabbed somewhere critical like his abdomen for example, the blood trail would have been much heavier and covered a larger area. That news was what had helped Gibbs be able to forge ahead with a renewed gusto, knowing that most likely Tony was well enough to keep fighting back or find a way to escape.

Hearing his boss remind them that Tony might not have the amount of time that they were wasting made McGee feel guilty as hell. What the heck was wrong with him? This was Tony, his partner! Bleeding, injured and missing Tony! He had to give his boss credit, his words had been just what both McGee and Ziva needed to make both of them want to step up their game 150 percent and do whatever was necessary to find their friend. They both started typing away at their computers with fired up determination that they had never felt before.

Suddenly all of their attention was diverted when the phone on McGee's desk started to ring. He knew before he answered that it was Abby calling him, he could see her name and internal extension on the digital caller ID. After hanging up he announced that she he had finished the computer drawings and was searching AVIS now for anyone resembling the duo.

Gibbs quickly decided to call the whole team down to meet in Abby's lab. It was time to debrief everyone on what they each uncovered so far. He had McGee call the lobby and request a guard to come down to the basement lab to escort the assistant out of the building and all the way to her car – leaving her with a reminder that she was not allowed to leave town and that they would contact her if they needed any more information or once they had any new information to pass on.

Within ten minutes the whole team had come together in the lab including Ducky and Palmer since Gibbs knew they were just as worried about Tony as any of them were. Gibbs had each of them once again run through what they had been able to uncover so far so they could all be brought up to speed on the case thus far. Gibbs went last after everyone else had gone through their individual findings. He had just finished telling them what his interview with Vanessa had uncovered when suddenly for the first time since they first realized Tony was missing, Gibbs cell phone rang loudly from it's place on his hip where it was always clipped to his belt.

Gibbs knew it was crazy but it almost seemed like there was something unusually ominous about the ring itself even though literally that wasn't possible.. Somehow all of them just knew it was the call they had all been anticipating all afternoon, the call demanding either ransom or some other outrageous request from whomever had taken their teammate.

Nearly every person in the room jumped, startled by the sudden interruption of the ringing cell – all of them already on edge having unsuccessfully repressed their deepest fears that the potential end result of the case - would be worse than anything they could imagine. Gibbs was the only one of course who _didn't_ jump, no one could figure out how he could remain unshakable even in the worst of situations.

He answered far more gruffly than he had intended, finally realizing that his worry had turned into anger at some point along the way.

"**Gibbs.**"

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**Pls Review :-)**_


	13. Flashback!

**A/N - **Sorry for long delay. I started a new job and it's been wearing me out trying to learn everything and do all the training and stuff. I hope you find this worth the wait. Pls PM me if you think the flashback scene was too detailed. It isn't a flashback to something that was ever on the show so I wanted you to be able to picture it the way Tony was remembering it. But I don't want anyone feeling the need to skim thru or skip over parts of the story due to being bored as some other writer's stories cause me to do at times. Also PM me if I mess up by writing anything that conflicts with what I wrote in earlier chapters. I have so many stories going on at one time that I find myself mixing them at times. hee

**Thank you for all the past awesome reviews! ~ Enjoy ~**

_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~

_**Previously ON A Deadly Phobia:**_

_Every person in the room jumped, startled by the sudden interruption of the ringing cell – all of them already on edge having unsuccessfully repressed their deepest fears that the potential end result of the case - would be worse than anything they could imagine. Gibbs was the only one who didn't jump, no one could figure out how he could remain unshakable even in the worst of situations._

_He answered far more gruffly than he had intended, finally realizing that his worry had turned into anger at some point along the way._

"_**Gibbs.**" _

_~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Thirteen**

"What, you didn't come down here to bring us lunch? Tony snidely remarked knowing full well he was taunting the man – the man who could hurt him. He didn't know why he did that whenever he was faced with a dangerous situation but he just found that the snarky attitude seemed to come naturally like a reflex that he was simply unable to stop.

"Ya know, it'd serve you a helluva lot better if ya'd learn t' **keep** that wise ass mouth'a yers** shut **and just do what I say**!" **Jesse hollered, irritated by Tony's lack of intimidation.

"Now listen up! There's some information we need from you Agent GQ so - you're gonna answer our questions or trust me - you won't like the outcome!

"Ohhh goody I can hardly wait." Tony shot back, sporting a smug expression and dead pan tone of voice. He found himself almost laughing as he thought of what Ziva would say he she heard someone call him 'Agent GQ' – he would _ne-ver_ live it down!

"So who's this 'WE' you're referring to? Hmmm? I won't ask if you have a mouse in your pocket cuz uh, well that's just ssill-ly." Even though he could tell that the drugs in his system had worn off substantially, but he hoped that if he acted goofier than usual - they would automatically assume it was due to him still being pretty zoned out and not firing on all cylinders so to speak.

Granted he still wasn't on his A game due to his leg wound but – knowing that the strongest effects of the drugs had worn off, he at least had his wits back. "Heyyy wait a mi- . . . minute! Juss' who you calling GQ?" he asked, slurring just the tiniest bit to keep up the act that he was still impaired by the more sedating side effects of the drugs. He had almost forgotten they knew who he was – then he remembered they had fished out his wallet when he was held down and trapped in the dental chair and that that they had quickly spotted his badge. Or had they already suspected who he was and were just confirming? His head felt like it was swimming with so many unanswered questions of his own. _'Am I just being paranoid or is my 'gut feeling' finally getting the hang of it?'_ He pondered silently. Normally he didn't always trust his gut since he didn't feel he had it down to the science that Gibbs seemed to have.

Kincaid watched from the sidelines, confused and surprised at how the NCIS agent was acting but fully falling for Tony's act hook, line and sinker! Michael believed that he really _was_ still groggy, even though a few minutes ago he seemed much better? Then he physically cringed upon hearing Tony's second sarcastic comment in under a minute and just stared at him in silent but stunned alarm.

'_What the hell is he doing?' _Mike thought, even if the man was still feeling slightly loopy – he was just _asking_ for trouble by being sarcastic!

Having only known Tony for a matter of long hours – he had no way of knowing of the man's rather ingenious tendency to use the carefree and annoying side of his personality to purposely draw potentially harmful attention away from anyone else who may also be in harm's way and who didn't have the experience, training and strength that he had. Kincaid's attention was quickly brought back to the man he knew as Jesse who was now standing a few feet away, toying with the sharp knife in his hands with a sinister look in his eyes.

"You know damn well who I am talking to! So now it's time for you to shut your yapping trap! I will be the one asking the questions!" he warned Tony.

"Okay just – just lemme ask one more . . . I'll even say please." Tony retorted with a grin still intact while keeping a close eye on the knife that looked dangerously sharp with a small jagged section on one side of the blade opposite the smooth side, meant to inflict the most damage by cutting the victim from both sides of the knife as it went in - and doing even more damage when pulled back out.

"Fine. What!" Jesse conceded while Tony spoke using one of his many character voices even though the look on his face and the question itself were both completely serious.

"So . . . what's the end game here Ja-ack?"

He then made the mistake of shifting his body slightly searching for a more comfortable position which resulted in serious pain shooting up his leg as he unknowingly aggravating his injured limb. He had called the man 'Jack' because he reminded him of Jack Nicholson in the movie "The Shining", not only due to the most obvious reason which was the rather large shiny knife he was holding, but also from the rather demented look he had on his face as he glared down at Tony.

"Ohh, you want to know the end game do you? Now why in the hell would I share something like that with **you**? Seems you are **forgetting who's in charge around here!**" Jesse's voice rose as he spoke with complete arrogance, ignoring the fact that Tony had called him Jack.

"Wait a minute - I **know **this!" Tony started to reply. "Uhh thaat would be-ee um. . . no don't tell me! Umm iss i-it . . . oh yeah, that'd be **Cal**!" Tony answered cheekily, grinning because he knew his comments would piss the man off, the man with the knife no less and - probably not one of his smartest moves.

"Wasn't that his name Mike-y? It was Cal right? The boss guy?" Tony pulled the still stunned dentist into the conversation knowing full well that it would anger Jesse even further if **both** of his captives considered Cal to be the man in charge rather than him.

Michael didn't answer. He just stared back at Tony still stunned at the agent's obnoxious behavior. Behavior that would surely only anger Jesse even further. What Michael didn't figure out was that Tony wanted to purposely drive a wedge of insecurity into the man that he felt was the weaker of their two captors. Unfortunately for Tony though, he still wasn't privy to the fact that Jesse held such a deeply rooted and nearly volatile level of hatred for the NCIS agent because of his part in killing his buddy a few few years ago during the botched arrest, and for forcing Jesse himself into hiding for months since there was quite the man hunt for him after he had previously stabbed the cocky agent in order avoid arrest and most likely - prison. It was that very anger & resentment that was still festering and hadn't even reached the boiling point yet - but when it did, **Cal** would be the **least** of Tony's worries.

Jesse reached down and grabbed Tony by the collar of his shirt getting right up in his face, looking directly into his eye and sneering while he held the knife underneath Tony's chin – pressing the razor sharp tip into the flesh with just enough pressure for just the tip to penetrate every layer of skin, though just barely and not enough to even result in a very bad cut. He only meant to show him who was boss, there would be plenty of time later to mess him up good - before killing him. Or so he thought. Tony had barely felt the penetrating knife tip because his eyes were fixated on the face in front of him. Now that he was so close to him, something about the man's eyes looked eerily familiar to him.

Then just as quickly, as if seeing the man's eyes that close to his own had caused Tony's memory to suddenly kick into overdrive. '_Wait a minute'_, he thought. '_I __**know**__ this man!' _but he couldn't for the life of him he couldn't remember how he knew him or why. His mind was moving a mile a minute while he studied Jesse's face trying to spur any memories at all. He took in the man's unruly almost reddish brown hair that looked as though he had cut it – or rather _butchered_ it himself, he had a scruffy goatee that surrounded his entire mouth that was badly in need of a trim. Tony knew he must have obviously had a run in with the man, an obvious criminal, during either his short stint with the Baltimore PD – or his years with NCIS.

Suddenly the knife that was still pressing and cutting deeper into the underside of his chin started to burn with pain snapping him out of of his head and back to the present moment.

Jesse had noticed the way Tony was staring at him as if starting to recognize him - even though he had changed his appearance since their previous run in. Back then he had nearly shoulder length, naturally curly hair that was as black as night and his face was always clean shaven. He had also put on about 40 pounds since then but all of it was sheer muscle. No wonder it was taking the agent a while to figure it out.

Tony looked down as if trying to see how far the knife was stuck into his skin and was relieved to see most of the knife still showing which meant he hadn't barely been cut – for now. The next thing that came to mind after realizing the man had him at a total disadvantage, was the fact that his own hands were still duct taped at the wrists. While he was glad they had to tape them in front of his body due to the dental chair being in the way - why the hell hadn't he told the dentist to find something in the basement to use to get the tape off of him and free his hands? He still didn't regret not telling him about the knife in his own belt because he still felt that if Kincaid had been convinced to help the captors initially – that he could just as easily be swayed **back** to helping them just to save his own skin. Especially if the threatened HIM with the knife. Tony then glanced down at his belt that held the knife – it now lay wrapped tightly around his leg to hold the splint on. He had been lucky once again that the knife had remained hidden when the dentist took it off of him – he would try getting to it later when the time was right.

His head was jerked back upwards when his hair was pulled up, and nearly out, by Jesse who obviously wanted his full attention. The knife was no longer near his chin, it was now pressing against his side in the exact same spot where he already had a scar from being stabbed once before while apprehending a suspect 2-3 years back. Even though Jesse was still angrily saying something to him, Tony was too preoccupied to listen as his memories chose that moment to come flooding back! He now knew where he had seen these same dark colored eyes before as they had leered at him just as closely back then - as they were right now!

It was as if the feeling of having the tip of a knife pressing against his side where he had been stabbed before – was enough to trigger the memories of the past event involving this same person. He recalled seeing the same cold rush of excitement that flashed in the man's eyes only seconds before he had stabbed Tony in the side using a hidden knife that Tony hadn't even seen coming!

_**{Flashback} . . .**_

_They had been working this case for months, in between solving the murder of the week they had been working on another case that was very close to being labeled as a cold case since the still outstanding murderer had been elusive to arrest so far. If it hadn't been for Gibbs and team's diligence and persistence – he still would be._

_They had finally compiled enough proof and forensic evidence to tie the man, Rodrico Marcoli, to the crime of robbing and brutally murdering Jeremy Peterson - a young Navy Private First Class, and now all that was left was to go make the actual arrest. Simple. Just a formality. __Their latest tip on Rodrico's whereabouts had come from a trusted informant who had never given them false information before so they knew that this was the chance they had been waiting for. Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and McGee had all piled into the Charger and made it there in record time parking blocks from the alleyway where the drug purchase was alleged to be going down at approximately 5:30 pm. They arrived with 45 minutes to spare in case the meeting went down earlier than planned but also to give them all time to split up into two teams of two and get into hidden positions that would allow them to monitor the area from both sides._

_Finally Rodrico showed up but he had someone else with him. They two men waited for for their buyer to get there while Gibbs instructed his team over their ear wicks, to wait until the drugs and subsequent money had exchanged hands so they could wrap that charge into the many others the man had already racked up. _

_Five minutes later everything seemed to go wrong, very wrong, with all three of the men scattering in every direction after hearing Gibbs yell "**NCIS! Get down on your knees and place your hands on your head – NOW! You're all under arrest!**" _

_Tony took off running after the fastest of the three fleeing men which unbeknown to him at the time was Jesse. As Tony was gaining ground and was now only a few feet behind the man, per protocol he yelled out one more warning – ordering the man to stop and drop the weapon that he now had in his hand, a small caliber gun that he must have pulled out while running after hearing they were under arrest. He was hell bent on not going to jail no matter what he had to do to get away – or who he had to hurt or kill while doing it._

_He did as ordered while mentally changing his game plan, stopping in place with his back still facing Tony, bent his knees slightly to squat down before letting his gun fall the rest of the way to the pavement. Then after putting his hands on his head per Tony's next command - he waited. Just as Tony got up behind him he kicked Jesse's discarded gun away to a safe distance and reached up to pull one of his hands back to cuff it – but just as quickly Jesse had brought his remaining hand down with the speed of light and grabbed the handle of the knife he had holstered around his waist, easy to access - he then simultaneously spun around catching Tony off guard, He stabbed the knife far into Tony's ribcage sliding easily into the space between two of his ribs. Then, taking advantage of the agent being overcome with shock and pain, watching him fall to the ground holding his side while blood quickly spilled out through his fingers._

_Jesse looked up from the fallen agent to see a silver haired agent now running towards them so he turned and took off running again. To his surprise, the agent stopped to help his friend rather than continue on after him and the truth was, Gibbs could hear McGee now running not far behind him, having left a more than capable Ziva holding the man who murdered to young Private until, the local LEO's arrived. Gibbs yelled to McGee to keep going and chase down the fleeing suspect since now he would be charged with assaulting a Federal Officer as well as assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill._

_Gibbs had taken off in the same direction that Tony had disappeared to as soon as he knew that Ziva and McGee had the Private's murderer subdued, as well as the man he was selling drugs to. He had run after Tony not only so he could be there if his second in command needed any help, but also to watch his Tony's six. Pretty far off in the distance he could see what looked Tony cuffing a now kneeling bandit which caused Gibbs to sigh in relief and even slow his running since everything seemed to be okay. Or so he thought! But then once he__drew close enough to where he could make out the clear silhouette of the villain with one of his hands on his head he watched in shocked gorror as the now kneeling criminal suddenly spun himself around while swinging his arm swiftly towards Tony's torso. At that very moment Gibbs heart nearly stopped and his jaw dropped in horror of how quickly things went sour! It was at that exact moment that Gibbs caught sight of something shiny glimmering briefly in the man's hands before it disappeared into his Senior Agent's gut! _

_He knew instantly that what was briefly illuminated by a nearby streetlight – was the shiny steel tip of a knife!_

"_**Tony?"** he yelled out as started to ran faster again, getting to Tony's side but unfortunately not in time to stop him before he had dropped harshly to the ground as blood loss and shock had already weakened his legs. Gibbs yelled back to McGee, ordering him to go after the man because right now Tony needed him. Gibbs had to push back his own feelings of guilt for what he looked at as his failure to truly watch Tony's back and keep him from being nearly killed. _

"_Tony you're gonna be okay - I gotcha!" He pressed his hands down onto Tony's, pressing them down even harder against the wound and eliciting a howl of pain from Tony. The initial shock had worn off just enough for the pain signal to finally get the message to his brain. _

"_B-boss . . . msor-ry I . . . I sscrewed up ag-ain Gib-"_

"_DiNozzo **can it**! If you say one more word I'll order McGee over here to head slap you for me! I'd prefer the honor myself but someone needs to keep some of that thick blood of yours inside your body where it belongs!"_

_{End Flashback}_

It was him! Tony now put two and two together and recalled where he had seen those eyes this close up before. It took every ounce of energy he had left not to say anything or show any obvious signs of recognition on his face since for now it was safer for everyone if the asshole thought Tony hadn't remembered him. Suddenly and with nearly perfect timing Cal's booming voice could be heard as the man made his way down the stairwell.

Jesse immediately dropped his hold of Tony's hair as he then practically leaped back up to a standing position. He obviously didn't want his partner to know he had been threatening their 'prize cow' since Tony knew it was money they were after and with him dead that wouldn't happen. But Tony also knew enough about NCIS to know that it might not happen period – regardless of his condition. NCIS did NOT negotiate with terrorists no matter what was at risk - or _**whom**_.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N - There, no cliffie for a change :-) I hope you liked this chapter. Pls review and thank you!**_


	14. North By Northwest

_**A/N – THANK YOU FOR YOUR AMAZING PATIENCE!**_ I am so sorry but my new job is sucking my time and energy up to the pt that I just want to go to bed when I get home leaving me only a few hrs on the weekend to write. I hope you enjoy this long chapter and I am close to posting updates on both my "Long Flight" and "Consequences" stories! _**~ Enjoy! ~**_

_****__~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis__~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously ON A Deadly Phobia:**_

_**End of Ch. 12 – NCIS Headquarters**__:__ Gibbs cell phone rang loudly from its place on his hip where it was always clipped to his belt . . . Nearly every person in the room jumped, startled by the sudden interruption of the ringing cell – all of them already on edge having unsuccessfully repressed their deepest fears that the potential end result of the case - would be worse than anything they could imagine. Gibbs was the only one of course who didn't jump, no one could figure out how he could remain unshakable even in the worst of situations – not realizing he was just better at hiding his worry._

_He answered far more gruffly than he had intended to, finally realizing that his unspoken worry had turned into anger at some point along the way. "__**Gibbs**__" . . ._

_**End of Ch. 13 – House Where Tony Is Being Held**__**: **__It was him! Tony now put two and two together and recalled where he had seen those eyes this close up before. It took every ounce of energy he had left not to say anything or show any obvious signs of recognition on his face since for now it was safer for everyone if the asshole thought Tony hadn't remembered him. Suddenly and with nearly perfect timing Cal's booming voice could be heard as the man made his way down the stairwell._

_Jesse immediately dropped his hold of Tony's hair as he then practically leaped back up to a standing position. He obviously didn't want his partner to know he had been threatening their 'prize cow' since Tony knew it was money they were after, and with him dead - that wouldn't happen. But Tony also knew enough about NCIS to know that it wouldn't happen period – regardless of his condition . . ._

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Fourteen**

**NCIS Headquarters . . .**

"Gibbs"

"Is this NCIS Lead Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" Cal asked in a very cocky and almost sarcastic tone of voice.

"Depends on who wants to know. You seem to know me so it's only fair I get your name." Gibbs forced himself to sound calm and detached. All business. Abby, Tim and Ziva all stared at him in anticipation until Tim snapped out of his fog and noticing his boss giving him a signal to trace the call on his cell. Tim ran over to one of the nearby computers to pull up the program he needed to access.

"Look, the only name I will give you is the name Anth-ony DiN-ozzo. I'm sure that name rings a bell am I right?'

"Listen, I'm not in the mood for your games. Now I suggest you tell me what you have done with my agent!"

"Ohh welll, nothing really. Aaactually, now that you mention it he might have tripped and hurt himself a bit but I assure you that is nothing compared to what he will go through if you don't do exactly what I tell you!" His cocky, sarcastic tone instantly changed to the complete opposite as Gibbs detected a sinister and almost psychopathic edge to the caller's voice as if he _enjoyed_ torturing and hurting people. It made Gibbs shiver slightly at the sheer coldness of the man's words.

"I am sure Ton- Agent DiNozzo has told you already, we don't take requests from terrorists so I hope you have a plan B."

At this point Cal was the one losing his patience. He knew they'd be tracing the call but he made sure to call from the IP soft phone they had connected to their computer. VoIP calls were untraceable so that was the only phone they used whenever they were making an illegal transaction or discussing details of a contract hit or any of the other mob related jobs they were assigned. Their boss had made sure they knew the repercussions of using any other phone and risk being tapped or traced. But even knowing that NCIS would get nowhere tracing this call, he still didn't want to stay on too long and risk accidentally slipping and giving away more details than was deemed necessary.

"I know that's the canned response you are trained to give Agent Gibbs but – if you value your long time agent's life then I'm sure you'll see that you may have to go against policy on this one and give us what we want."

"Rii-ght. Are you really that stupid or do you just think I am?" Gibbs boldly pushed back, he had to regain control of the call and situation in general. "You know damn well even if I did give into your pathetic demands that you still plan to kill him anyway. You won't just let him walk off into the sunset and trust me – I don't plan to let you do that either!"

With that Gibbs disconnected the call. He knew it was a risky move and he silently prayed the man wouldn't take out that anger on Tony. But in his experience, he found nine out of ten times it didn't backfire and they usually called back. It was typically during that 2nd call that they would fumble the ball at some point as their anger got the best of them. Gibbs turned back around to face his team only to find all of them still as statues, staring at him in wide eyed horror at what he had just done.

Ignoring the stares Gibbs turned to Tim, "McGee!"

Blinking quickly to regain his composure Tim made a few last clicks on the keyboard. "Sorry boss. The call was made from an IP phone . . . VoiP. Remember those are the kind that bounce all over the place and are impossible to trace to any one location." he then took in a deep breath as he nervously waited to see how his boss responded to the bad news.

"Alright well, he'll be calling back so I have another plan on how to get a location out of him."

Ziva and Abby had stepped closer to Gibbs both of them started to speak at the same time until Ziva conceded and let Abby go first. "Gibbs! What the hell? You practically TOLD him to just kill Tony and that you weren't gonna do anything about it! Why would y-"

"Abby!"

Once she stopped her angry rambling and took in a deep breath in an effort to calm her rising blood pressure, Abby and team waited for any explanation their boss was willing to give them as to why he would threaten Tony's kidnapper like he did.

"All of you listen to me, I will only say this once. I have 20 years of experience dealing with this type of criminal – the man we're dealing with has a psychopathic personality; he's arrogant . . . enough to think his plan is going to work. He has no remorse over any of his own actions, he possesses a volatile anger when provoked but he will not take it out on Tony. His anger is easily redirected and hopefully that will be towards me now."

With that Gibbs turned and walked out of the lab heading towards the elevator. Though he would never admit this to his team, the irritating phone call that left him no closer to finding his senior agent – combined with the thoughts of Tony still out there somewhere captured and injured – was starting to take its toll on him, making him almost shake from the anger he felt as well as the lack of control he had over the entire situation.

As the elevator doors slid closed to take him up to the bull pen, Gibbs stared at the cell phone in his hand hoping he was correct in his assumptions about the kidnapper he had provoked.

Back down in Abby's lab the three team members exchanged a few glances towards one another, all of them understanding what their boss had just explained – but none of them any less frightened and worried about their missing friend since they were nowhere closer to finding him and bringing him home.

_**Inside The House Where Tony Is Being Held Captive . . .**_

Upstairs in the kitchen Cal had to use all of his willpower not to throw his wireless IP phone towards to wall to shatter it into tiny pieces. He had just been hung up on by the asshole that was Special Agent Jethro Gibbs – and supposedly the boss of the man down in the basement.

"How dare you hang up on me!" Cal yelled to no one. "You'll pay for that one way or another if it's the last thing I do! NO ONE hangs up on me and gets away with it! NO ONE!"

Taking the phone with him, he headed towards the door to the basement. He had to find out more about the bastard he was dealing with before they spoke again - especially if they were going to get anything out of this whole kidnapping debacle.

_**Downstairs In The Basement . . .**_

"Time to get down to business!" Cal announced as he started down the stairwell. Once he was less than half way down he had plenty of time to notice the way Jesse was bending down close to the NCIS agent – it looked like he was threatening their victim. He became even more suspicious when Jesse immediately jumped up to a standing position at the sound of Cal's voice. Upon further observation he couldn't help but notice how nervous and angry his partner was acting as well which made him wonder what was behind the man's unusual behavior.

Walking to another area of the tiny basement, Cal found some folding chairs and table they sometimes used to play poker. Grabbing one chair he carried it closer to Tony and proceeded to unfold it and set it back down.

"Jesse, help me get our guest up off that cold floor will you?"

The two men grabbed Tony roughly under each of his armpits, Tony sucked in a deep breath and held it in his lungs in anticipation of the intense pain that he knew the forthcoming movement would provoke in his leg and head, not to mention his hand was throbbing like crazy and his abscess tooth had already filled back up with infected fluid. That was no surprise since the dentist hadn't been given enough time to do anything more than temporarily drain it. Kincaid found himself also holding his breath since he not only also knew the agent would be in tremendous pain when they jarred his broken leg, but he was also overcome by more guilt as he realized again that he was to blame for what now happening to the nice Italian agent. He had no way of knowing that there was more to it than just his debts. He had no idea of the man's history with Jesse – or of Jesse's need for revenge.

"Mmmnn-ahhhh!" Tony tried hard to keep quiet, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of knowing they were causing him pain. But when they shoved him harshly down into the hard aluminum seat jarring his head and leg which had resulted in unthinkable pain, the grunt came out before he could rein it in.

"Jess, go find some more rope or something. I want to make sure our visitor doesn't fall off his chair and hurt himself again like he did when he fell down the stairs." Cal was staring right into Tony's eyes while speaking in a condescending tone of voice as he feigned innocence acting as though it were Tony's fault his leg was broken.

Tony just glared right back at him deciding at the last second not to correct the man and remind him of the small fact that they had _**pushed **_him down the stairwell. Instead he just kept still while he waited for his newly awakened pain to go back down a few notches, he also forced his face to remain completely void of expression so there would be no way the man could tell what he was really thinking. He just had to stay alive long enough to stall until Gibbs found a way to get him out of here.

"This should work!" Jesse's voice interrupted the stare down between Cal and Tony as he came from across the room with a long orange extension cord he found hanging in a locked tool cabinet of which he and Jesse both had a key. This wasn't the first time they had used this basement for one of their business "dealings".

Within just under 10 minutes Jesse had wrapped coil after coil of the tough power cord around Tony's torso, it seriously aggravated the rib that had been cracked after they had pulled him out of their SUV earlier, not to mention pressing on the multiple bruises he had received during his _'fall_' down the stairs. He could barely take more than shallow breaths because anything deeper only forced his ribcage to expand further and press against the tightly wrapped cord. He noticed that Jesse had thankfully only strapped his uninjured leg to the chair but then realized the man had no choice. The way the dentist had splinted Tony's lower leg it jutted out slightly because it was hard to bend his knee all the way.

"Okay, here's what's gonna happen! I am going to call that stubborn bastard you call a boss again, and this time I will allow you one minute to speak to him so he can hear for himself that we haven't killed you. If you even think about giving him our names or any other clues I can assure you – you physically won't be able to speak to him again later even if we let you! Capiche?"

Tony noted the man's use of the popular Italian word which meant 'understand?' - or - 'understood.'' in English. Combining his use of Italian language with his dark hair, buff physique and strong features Tony was pretty sure the man's nationality was at least 50% Italian.

"Capiche." Tony replied in kind.

"What the hell happened the first time you called him from upstairs?" Jesse demanded.

"Just you never mind that Jesse!" Call dismissed him and hit redial to contact the NCIS team leader again.

As soon as Tony heard they were going to let him speak to Gibbs his mind kicked into overdrive as he thought of how he could somehow get a message to his boss that might aid them in finding and hence rescuing him. He started trying to recall the various sounds he had heard during the drive to this very house. His memory started to try remembering the order of the sounds so he could try to determine what direction they were heading . . . he remembered a church bell first . . . followed by . . . a . . . school bell of some kind . . . and then . . . there was a football game or something. He became a little excited as he recalled everything very easily, his excitement and hope grew stronger as he recalled more and more details. _'Okay Anthony, what came after the game?' _he silently asked himself.

He was rewarded with the recollection of the sound of rumbling sound that only a train could produce. But they hadn't crossed over any tracks so that meant they were driving _parallel_ to the tracks. He knew where the main railroad tracks came through DC so that narrowed down what direction they had been heading by ruling out an East to West or vice verse option. That meant they would have been heading either North, or South. Thinking a little harder he started putting some of the other sounds together until he determined there was a large Catholic church that had their own private high school nearby . . . Saint uh . . . Saint . . . Saint Christopher's!

Tony nearly yelled it out loud once he finally remembered the name - it was _their_ football team and band that he heard playing. The sound had been heavier in his right ear than it had been on his left. The train tracks and train whistle he had heard had been more prevalent on his left side – that could only mean they had been heading North! His joy over figuring out that much was cut short after his focus was disrupted by the sound of Kincaid's voice.

"**Stop! This has gone too far! **I never agreed to all of this, you never told me he would be hurt . . . he - it . . . that wasn't part of the deal!" Kincaid has nervously risen from his own seat on the floor in his attempt to diffuse the situation before the agent was roughed up any further or worse yet – before they could turn their fists in his direction which he knew was bound to happen. He was now starting to realize the agent was right – they had no intention of letting either of them walk out of there alive.

Within seconds Jesse was on him like a flash pinning the dentist up against the wall. "Listen here Kincaid! You need to shut your mouth or you'll be the next one in pain from a broken bone! You make one peep during this phone call I'll cut out your damn tongue myself!"

Tony watched in empathy, he thought Kincaid looked as though he were going to pee his pants in fear. He found himself feeling guilty for some reason he couldn't explain. Hell the damn dentist was responsible for what Tony was now going through and yet he had somehow grown to not only like the man, but also wanting to protect him. He started struggling against his bonds only to find it causing his pain to spike to such an indescribable level that it stopped him in his tracks. Cal looked down at the floor near where the dentist had been sitting, spotting what was left of the roll of duct tape but since he only needed a little he knew it would suffice. Grabbing the roll he ripped off a 5 inch strip and placed it in his partner's free hand, his other hand and arm were keeping Kincaid pinned to the wall by the throat. A few seconds later Kincaid's mouth was sealed shut by the sticky tape – simply an extra precaution to ensure he didn't speak up at all during the upcoming call.

_**NCIS Bull Pen . . .**_

Gibbs had no sooner arrived at his desk in the bull pen that his phone started to ring again. He let out a breath of relief since he knew he had taken quite a gamble when he hung up on the kidnapper 10 minutes prior. Just as he was answering he heard the elevator ding again and spotted Tim and Ziva heading over. Signaling to McGee Gibbs waited until his youngest agent was at his computer starting to again trace Gibbs call just in case the man screwed up and used a different phone. Finally after the 4th ring he answered.

"Don't waste my time, I want to talk to Agent DiNozzo!" he answered rather abruptly, his gut sensing it was the same man calling him back.

"If you ever hang up on me like that again Agent Gibbs, I will break your prized senior agent's gun hand so bad he will never shoot straight again!" Cal fired back with a threat of his own.

"I want to talk to him - NOW!"

"Hey boss, how's it goin'?"

Gibbs smirked as he recognized Tony's all too calm and very distinct voice. He knew him well enough to know that he always sounded overly calm during the worst of situations. It was obvious to Gibbs that Tony was overcompensating as usual in his efforts to appear unscathed, mainly just to keep his favorite boss from worrying about him.

"Tony -_ talk_ to me – and drop the act! How you holdin' up?"

Gibbs sensed someone behind him, looking over his shoulder he found himself nose to nose with a worried Ziva as she was trying to listen in and hear her partner's voice. Her eyes grew wide as she found herself staring straight into Gibbs' icy blue stare.

"I'm good, really. I don't feel any worse than when Brad Pit injured me during that football game at St. Christopher's if that makes you feel any better. In fact this whole thing reminds me of the movie 'North by Northwest' when Cary Grant was on the trai- . . ."

**Whack!**

Out of all the things Cal expected the two agents to talk about on their one call – a rambling monologue about a high school and a movie was NOT one of them, thankfully he had been too shocked to suspect any hidden agenda or clues. He found his anger raging at the waste of time so he reached out and punched Tony square in the mouth with a closed fist shutting him up fast! Grabbing the phone that Tony had dropped during the painful punch, he expressed his fury to Gibbs.

"Enough games! I'll say one thing Agent Gibbs - your agent here must be more nervous than he's letting on. Just what the hell are you two trying to pull here?"

"Take it easy!" Gibbs hollered back, "I wanted to know that he was still alive and I got that so move on and tell me what the hell you're after!" he wanted to rush the man to get to the point, not wanting him to have any time to think more about what Tony had said. Gibbs knew his senior agent well enough by now, to know that in typical DiNozzo fashion he had just supplied them with some pretty significant clues as to where they had taken him, all the while managing to cleverly avoid addressing his current condition as usual.

McGee and Ziva looked at each in shock. Gibbs rarely gave into demands of terrorists, kidnappers, killers and the like. They had no choice but to assume he had another plan in mind.

"Now that's more like it Agent Gibbs. I will call you back in half an hour with further instructions. That will give you some time to come up with the $250,000 ransom."

This time it was Cal who ended the call abruptly leaving Gibbs to seethe over the ridiculous amount of money the man was demanding. But there was no time for that, he shook it off and turned towards the team.

"Campfire"

This time Tim and Ziva both smiled upon hearing that formerly dreaded command that Tony had started after Gibbs left for his . . . 'Mexican field trip'. They all wanted to embrace it this time as a silent nod to their missing friend. Secretly both Ziva and McGee of them felt that those little 'campfire' sessions had actually been extremely helpful in regrouping and making progress on cases - but they would never tell Tony that. Gibbs on the other hand, he had witnessed some of the campfire's and even had tried doing a few of them mainly because he too found it both clever, and useful. Someday he would have to tell Tony that, he thought to himself.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N – **__For some reason I am nervous about this chapter. I like it a lot but just hope I stayed true to characters and to the story itself. Please review and be kind. Hee PS- Please send me a private message if you find any major errors .__**THANK YOU ALL! Coming Up On Phobia: **__Gibbs and team decipher Tony's cryptic clues, the 2 kidnappers start bickering w/ each other more and more, Gibbs prepares to meet one of Tony's kidnappers but has a hidden agenda of his own! Stay Tuned!_


	15. Heading In The Right Direction

_**A/N - I know, I know. This is crazy how long this update took to get done and post. Sorry once again. BUT- I highly recommend that you re-read Chapter 14 before proceeding with this chapter. I had to do that myself just to make sure I remembered all that happened.**_

_**Thanks for sticking with me, I hope you enjoy this update. **_

_~ncis~__ncis__ ~ncis~__ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously ON A Deadly Phobia:**_

_**End of Ch. 14 – NCIS Headquarters**__: __This time it was Cal who ended the call abruptly leaving Gibbs to seethe over the ridiculous amount of money the man was demanding. But there was no time for that, he shook it off and turned towards the team._

_"Campfire."_

_This time Tim and Ziva both smiled upon hearing that formerly dreaded command that Tony had started after Gibbs left for his . . . 'Mexican field trip'. They all wanted to embrace it this time as a silent nod to their missing friend. Secretly both Ziva and McGee felt that those little 'campfire' sessions had actually been extremely helpful in regrouping and making progress on cases - but they would never tell Tony that. Gibbs on the other hand, he had witnessed some of the campfire's and even had tried doing a few of them mainly because he too found it both clever and useful. Someday he would have to tell Tony that, he thought to himself._

_~ncis~__ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Fifteen**

**NCIS Bullpen . . .**

"Campfire."

Everyone quickly came together in the center of the bullpen after wheeling desk chairs with them. Neither Ziva nor McGee made any attempt to speak since they both knew better when Gibbs was in this kind of mood. The same mood he always fell into when one of his team was in danger.

"What DiNozzo was saying made no sense, he was obviously giving us clues as to his whereabouts." He started with the most critical information and knew they would be better able to figure out Tony's encrypted ramblings if they joined efforts.

"Let's break it down in order of what he said. Starting with him saying his leg was broken at St. Christopher's. We all know Tony played ball for Ohio State so I wanna here some theories!"

"Gibbs I – uhm . . ." Ziva interjected suddenly acting more nervous than the tough as nails former assassin had ever acted before.

"Ziva!" Gibbs hollered at her – time was of the essence so he needed to be firm enough to snap her focus back to whatever she was trying to spit out.

"Uhm, is . . . did Tony sound – _fine -_ to you? I mean I could hear him and, well . . . he sounded awful. I don't care how cheerful and healthy he was trying to sound." There, she got it out. She knew Gibbs hated emotionally charged interruptions but at this point she found she didn't care. She just wanted someone to reassure her that he would be okay, that they would get him out of this somehow.

"Look Ziva," Gibbs tone instantly calmer, "I know you're worried, hell we_ all_ are! But he will be even less fine if we waste another second pondering something we can't fix. If you want to help Tony, focus on what we CAN." He then did something very out of character and reached out to gently squeeze her shoulder just to give her a sense of his support and understanding. It was a move he had remembered his Wife Shannon doing to their Daughter Kelly and to Gibbs himself.

Ziva nodded, "Got it. I don't know of a St. Christopher's but could he be giving us some kind of reference at to where he was taken?" she offered.

McGee piped in, "Ya know boss, Tony wouldn't be dumb enough to name the exact place where he was being held but Ziva could be on to something. I know there is a Saint Christopher's on the outskirts of DC – my parents sent my Sister and I to a private Catholic school and our band competed with St. Christopher's."

"**Ssssnnnorrrt**" Ziva couldn't help herself as a snort of laughter cam flying out. **Of course** their McGee had been in the band! She suddenly missed Tony's presence now more than ever – ah the field day he would have had with that tidbit of new McGoo information!

"**Whack**!" a slap on the back of her head by her glaring boss was all it took to stop her laughing.

"McGee!" Gibbs hollered.

Tim wheeled himself and his chair back to his desk, "Searching for GPS location of St. Christopher's boss!" announcing the order he knew Gibbs was silently giving him.

"Okay next tip – North By Northwest." Gibbs continued while he and Ziva remained seated in the middle of the bullpen. "Either of you seen that movie?"

Ziva started sliding her own chair back to her desk as she answered, "Of course I have, I'll give you 3 guesses as to who made me watch it with him. Searching for train tracks in vicinity of St. Christopher's." she announced. "McGee – GPS coordinates please."

Gibbs smiled, please with his team's ability to know what he was thinking without him having to say a word. He had trained them just as he had wanted to. Standing he pushed his own chair back around the desk. Then without telling his team where he went he headed up to Vance's office. It was time to inform him of the ransom demand.

**Meanwhile Back At The Hostage House . . .**

Cal and Jesse stood over a chair bound Tony, Cal taking the phone he held in his hand and whipped it towards Tony's head in a flash, hitting him harshly somewhere between the side of his forward and his left temple. He had pulled back enough to ensure that he wouldn't knock the smart ass man out completely.

Tony's head snapped harshly to the right then back to the left leaving him dazed and seeing stars for several long seconds. Steeling himself he quickly steadied his head and lifted it upwards so he could give Cal his coldest glare.

"Oh _**now**_ you have nothing to say? No wise ass comments or snide remarks? Interesting." Cal stated.

Tony just continued staring with slightly squinted eyes boring straight into Cal's own. Suddenly Cal tossed the phone down next to him and jutted one hand out, wrapping it tightly around Tony's throat and squeezing. Tony's face started turning bright red almost instantly as his breath was cut off and his larynx felt like there was a vice around it. He continued staring even though struggling to breath.

"What the hell kind of game are you playing here _Special_ Agent DiNozzo! So help me - if you gave them any kind of secret code or clue! **No** actually . . so help **YOU**!" Cal was slightly spitting as he let his anger get the best of him. Then just as fast he released Tony's neck leaving him sputtering to suck air back into re-fill his lungs.

Tony could feel his eyes start to water as his intense gasps for air forced his ribcage to expand out much farther than normal, causing his cracked rib to feel like someone was poking a sharp knife directly into his abdomen with each inhale as the bindings around him resisted the movement. Once he felt composed he finally spoke. "Okay, well I hope you feel better getting that out of your system, it's not healthy to keep that kind of anger inside." As he spoke one would never guess he had gone through everything he had endured over the past several hours, his voice sounded steady and calm.

By now Cal was pacing and breathing still trying to calm himself down some. He hated when he let himself get so riled up. He could practically feel his own blood pressure rising to unhealthy levels.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, we don't have any special codes and I don't have any clue to give them. In case you have forgotten, I don't even know where the hell we are myself. You blindfolded me remember?" Tony has continued talking as he watched Cal pacing.

Jesse took the moment of temporary silence to jump in, "Cal – what'd they say? About the ransom? Ya think they're gonna pay it?"

"Ah who knows! I told that Agent Gibbs I would be giving him further instructions later. I don't trust him. Not one bit." Cal slightly mumbled as if talking to himself more so than anyone else.

"Yeah? Well that's the first smart thing you've said all day." Tony said – he found that he just couldn't help himself sometimes.

"Ya know what? I have had just about enough of your constant yapping!" Cal complained. Jesse proactively grabbed the duct tape, ripping off a strip long enough to cover Tony's mouth from ear to ear and slapping it on his face hard enough to cause it to sting.

"Wrap some of that around the Doc's hands while you're at it. I don't want these two trying anything funny. Then come upstairs Jess – we got some planning to do!" with that Cal grabbed a hold of Tony's hair, yanking his head back to he could look at him face to face, getting his own face within inches of the agent's.

"Don't even _**think**_ about making any heroic attempts to escape Agent DiNozzo because this time it will be the dentist that I will take it out on!"

Releasing Tony's hair with a slight push, Cal reached down, plucked up the abandoned phone on the ground and stormed back upstairs. Jesse followed suit once he had the dentist tied up like a turkey.

Underneath the sticky duct tape Tony still managed to smile slightly. He knew Gibbs and the team would unravel his clues, not matter how odd they may have seemed to them. Now all he had to do was keep himself and the dentist alive until Gibbs got here.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N - I hope you enjoyed this chapter as long overdue as it was. Please review if you are still with me and to all of you whom have stood by me with my lagging updates – I am truly grateful that you did! THANK YOU ALL. **_


	16. A Positive Author's Note

_**Attention Readers**__ PLEASE DON'T WORRY - I am NOT discontinuing this store OR ANY OTHER STORIES and I promise that I will never ever do that to you - you have my solemn word!_

_I am appalled by Author's that do that to their loyal fans! I also hate when they put an author's note where a chapter should be (like I am doing now haha) but this time I had no choice - I owed you the courtesy of promising that I will not every abandon my fics and that I will make every effort to find more time to write and update more regularly. _

_Thanks for hangin' with me and for your patience and I hope you will continue to do so! My sincere apologies for making you wait and I hope you haven't given up on the story! You may have to re-read a the last 2 chappies to remember what happened before reading next update but hopefully you'll be right back on track as will I!_

_Love you all and you will see updates coming very very soon!_

_BnBFanatic :-)_


	17. Shocking Turn Of Events

_**A/N – **__My job and fatigue from current health challenges are getting in the way of my writing so try as I might I still continue to take forever to update. Just know that I continue to try to find a way to rectify the situation. _

_**Favor:**__ I hope I didn't miss any errors in storyline. I couldn't find the last names of Jesse and Cal in previous chapters – so if I did divulge their last names before – and the last name I use for Jesse in this chapter is different – pls send me a PRIVATE msg and let me know what chapter so I can fix and make consistent. Thx!_

_**Side note: I**__**LOVED Season 9 premiere epi (Nature Of The Beast)!**__ It was so great to see Gibbs showing obvious concern for Tony and acting very Papa Gibbs! Filling out Tony's hospital insurance form just like many, many fan fics have written, protecting him from fake Agent Stratton's snooping, getting his clothes, asking if he should be walking around (with his head injury and probably physical trauma to his chest from the impact of the bullet hitting the vest) – and following him to the gun range obviously knowing Tony went there whenever he was feeling stressed about something._

_**SURPRISE TWIST AHEAD: **__There is a big surprise at the end of this chapter __**(NO peeking!).**__ I hope you like where this is going to take the story because this idea just came to me out of the blue and I am taking a risk by doing it. I really hope the risk pays off and I promise I will explain the missing pieces in the next chapter._

_**~ Enjoy! ~ **_

_~ncis~__ncis__~ncis~__ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously ON A Deadly Phobia:**_

_**End of Ch. 15 – Hostage house (ch 16 was Author's note): **__"Don't even __**think**__ about making any heroic attempts to escape Agent DiNozzo because this time it will be the dentist that I will take it out on!"_

_Releasing Tony's hair with a slight push, Cal reached down, plucked up the abandoned phone on the ground and stormed back upstairs. Jesse followed suit once he had the dentist tied up like a turkey. _

_Underneath the sticky duct tape Tony still managed to smile slightly. He knew Gibbs and the team would unravel his clues, not matter how odd they may have seemed to them. Now all he had to do was keep himself and the dentist alive until Gibbs got here._

_~ncis~__ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Seventeen **

**Hostage House – Basement Level **_(Note: the house scenes in this chapter do NOT take place in real time with NCIS bullpen scenes) . . ._

The second he heard the door above slam and lock Tony started pushing his tongue out to press against the sticky duct tape, using the pressure from his tongue combined with his saliva he was eventually able to soften the hold and enable him to press his tongue further and further out and in the process, creating a larger and larger gap in the tape. He shuddered as he thought about the fact that the sticky residue made it seem as though her were licking a glue popsicle. It seemed to take forever but it wasn't like he had anything better to do at the moment.

Dr. Kincaid watched him wide eyed and brows furrowed slightly as if trying to figure out why the face of the agent in front of him was contorting in odd but rather humorous ways.

Tony took in the frozen stare and stiff posture of the dentist and recognized them as signs of slight shock – something only apparent to the trained and observant eyes of a detective with years of experience reading both criminals and victims. He needed to hurry to free his mouth so he could snap the man out of his downward spiral.

Finally he was able to poke his tongue out and up pressing the top of the tape out and down creating enough room for his lips to move and his voice to be freed.

"DOC! ? Hey - you with me?" Tony said in a firm but still hushed tone.

After getting no response from the dentist Tony was getting worried. Kincaid just continued to stare at Tony's mouth as if trying to comprehend how he had freed him captive tongue and decipher what he was saying.

"I need you to listen to me Kincaid . . . HEY - ya listening?"

Finally to his relief the man blinked hard several times as if waking from an open eyed slumber and this time Tony could tell by the man's eyes that he now had his focus for real. Being that Kincaid was still unable to speak due to his own taped mouth, Tony just calmly told him what he needed him to do. He hoped that by giving Kincaid a steady stream of tasks to get done, that it would keep his mind off of their current situation.

"Okay good. Like I said before, they are not going to just let us walk away from this and I personally don't plan to wait around to prove that theory so listen up." He commanded, his sords still slightly muffled by part of the tape that still covered part of his lips making it more difficult to form every syllable correctly.

We need to move fast if my escape plan is going to work. I need your help though, ya think you can do that?"

Tony now had Kincaid's full attention as the man perked up upon hearing the words 'escape', sitting up straighter with his shoulders pushed back he nodded in agreement.

"Okay good. Now listen – first let's get that tape moved a little so you can talk. Do what I did, push with your tongue as hard as you can – use your own spit to moisten the tape residue until it starts to relax its hold." He waited, impressed when the dentist had freed his mouth for the most part in no more than a minute or two.

"Nice job – now listen up . . . I have a small knife hidden inside my belt – it's attached to the buckle. What I need you to do is going to be a little awkward with your own hands tied behind your back. But I know you can do it Kincaid, just think of seeing that wife and daughter of yours when I get us outta this mess alright?"

Kincaid nodded his agreement and in a flash he was up on his feet and standing in front of Tony's chair. He stopped and stared at Tony's torso as he realized what the agent meant when he said it would be awkward. He realized in order to get the knife from the belt buckle, the only way would be for him to turn around so he was facing away from the trussed up agent, and rather blindly grope for the buckle and hidden knife.

"Yeah, I see you figured out the only way you can get to that knife eh Doc?" Tony used his tried and true method of humor to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation they found themselves in. "Listen Kincaid, we don't have time to figure out another way – just do it, I'm not going to bite you. Just uh, try to be careful where and what you grab!"

Tony realized he was sweating more than usual as a trickle of sweat slid down his own cheek. At a subconscious level Tony had finally realized just what could happen If the dentist wasn't careful when he used his shaking hands to pull out that knife. One slip or the wrist in the vicinity just South of the housed knife . . . and this plan of his could have a disastrous ending.

Kincaid did as he was told and immediately thought of his family, as he squatted down with his back to Tony, he decided to aim high at first and reach back at Tony's abdomen first since that would help avoid making this even more uncomfortable for both of them if he accidentally aimed too far down instead– and then he could work his way down from the man's abs.

Tony watched as the man in front of him reached back and poked him lightly in the stomach, he decided to tell Kincaid where to go from there.

"Okay stop . . . now move your hands to the right about 2 inches . . . okay good. Now go down about 4 inches and you should feel the metal of my buckle. Yeah there ya go - ya got it! Now, pull the buckle straight over to your right and keep pulling until the knife is all the way free. It's only about 5 to 6 inches long."

Just seconds later the dentist exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding as he stood back up to his full height, the small knife held tightly in his grasp. Listening to Tony's continued instructions since time was of the essence, Michael Kincaid quickly moved to the back of Tony's chair in order to start attempting to cut through some of the man's tight binding.

He had only cut through the tape on the agent's hands and found himself breathing hard and sweating from the exertion. At more than one point he had heard Tony grunt in pain as he had either jarred the agent's injured hand, or more than once had accidentally pushed the knife too far inflicting small cuts on the man's hands in his blind efforts to cut through the tough tape.

Once he freed Tony's hands he continued to fumble through some of the tape strapping the agent to the chair. Then there was the matter of the electrical cord that could obviously not be cut off. Tony wriggled as much as he could without jarring his leg or his extremely aching jaw since his abscess tooth was throbbing so bad that it practically had its own pulse. He was shifting and twisting his torso from side to side until the cord finally began to loosen.

"I-I'm sorry about cutting your hands Agen – T-Tony. M-mmy hands are jus-just shaking so much and I –"

"Don't apologize Kincaid – it's a sign of weakness remember?" Tony knew the cuts weren't deep and right now that was the_ least_ of their worries. Slowly bringing his hands forward, he waited a few seconds for the circulation to come back and the pins and needles to subside.

"Right now just come closer so I can get the knife from you. I need to cut your hands free so you can get this damn cord off of me."

_**Back at NCIS Headquarters . . .**_

Everyone had been working diligently on the case trying to use Tony's clues and other evidence to narrow down possible locations where their missing friend was being held against his will.

Their silent focus was shattered by the shrill voice of their most exuberant Forensic Scientist.

"Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs!" a running Abby came to a screeching halt in front of Gibbs desk. She was so excited to tell him of her findings that she could barely contain herself as she waited for him to give her his undivided attention.

"Abby, it's obviously killing you not to blurt out whatever it is you are dying to tell me so just tell me already!"

"Gibbs you'll never guess what I found when I went over all of the evidence from the crime scene! Well, you could try and knowing you – you probably **could** guess – but I really don't think-"

"ABBY!"

"Sorry Gibbs. Okay so ya know we got various fingerprints and other possible DNA right? Well I found a partial print in the evidence that came from the Dentist's office and you're not gonna believe this! I ran it through Avis and it pulled up a match! Someone named Jesse Ramirez and he has a been involved in a trail of different crimes – the worst to date being drug possession with intent to sell. Of course not the worst is kidnapping a Federal Agent so he-"

"Abby." Gibbs said calmly but firmly to bring her focus back. Mission accomplished as Abby closed her mouth and made the exaggerated mimic of zipping her lips closed allowing Gibbs to take over.

"Ziva – run that name and see if this guy has had any run ins with NCIS at any point. Actually same goes with Baltimore PD and any connection to Tony." He was partially grasping at straws and he knew it, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was some connection. The kidnappers had to have known Tony was an agent either by recognizing him from a past run in – or just by accidentally finding his ID and badge. Since he didn't know which it was, he knew he had to look at both possibilities. The more he could learn about the kidnappers, the more of an upper hand he would have against them.

Suddenly everything stopped as once again Gibbs cell phone began to ring from where he had it clipped to his hip.

"Yeah - Gibbs." His answer reflecting his underlying fury, knowing it was Tony's captors calling.

_**Back At The Hostage House**_ _(Note: this scene still does not take place in real time with bullpen scenes) . . ._

Within under 8 minutes Tony was no longer restrained to the uncomfortable chair and both he and the dentist were completely free of their bonds. Tony remaining seated due to his leg while he looked around the basement making sure they had hadn't missed any windows or doors that would lead to the outside.

"Alright Kincaid, here's my plan and no matter what happens I want you to stay behind me and try not to get hurt. If this doesn't work then I want you to act like I was forcing you to come with me. I don't want to cause you any more trouble with these assholes!"

Kincaid moved quickly to Tony's side and reached his arm under the agent's so he could hoist him up and help him get acclimated to standing again - hoping that it wouldn't be too much for the weakening agent. Once that was accomplished he made sure Tony was stable as he balanced on his good leg while Kincaid ran over to grab a long piece of 2x4 wood for the agent to use as a crutch.

It was a little too short but went high enough that Tony wouldn't have to lean down too far to rest his armpit on the top of the wood. Kincaid had taken the extra measure of putting a rag on top to cushion the hard edges of the wood and protect it from causing the agent more problems.

As the made their way to the bottom of the stairs Tony stopped them in order to explain what the next phase of his plan was.

"Alright, now comes the hard part. Once we get to the top of the stairs I'm going to make some racket. Then when one or both of them start to open the door - I'm gonna reach out and grab whatever part of them I can grab and yank them hard enough to get them to lose their balance and fall down the stairs. That's why it's vital that you stay behind me and press yourself as far against the wall as you can! I don't want their momentum to knock you down as well, got it?"

"No problem Agent DiNozzo." He replied using Tony's professional title again as it only seemed appropriate since the man's talents as a fast thinking agent were becoming more and more evident. He was impressed with the way the agent, whom he now looked at as a new friend and ally, took control and immediately formulated a plan.

They had only taken one step up on the long stairwell when suddenly the door swung open without any warning, swinging open with such a force that it hit the stairwell wall with a loud and alarming bang causing both Tony's and Michael's hearts to freeze in their chest from complete and utter shock!

Once he recovered from the abrupt and unexpected shock of the noise combined with disappointment that his plan had come to such a screeching halt _before_ he had even been able to put it fully into motion – Tony's stomach dropped at what he spotted next . . .

Gibbs?

He stared wide eyed at his bound boss wriggling in the vice-like arms of the two captors. Tony quickly took stock of the swelling bruise that was forming around Gibbs' right eye and the small trickle of blood leaking from an obviously split lip. While taking in the bloody lips Tony realized that Gibbs was smiling. '_What the -?_'

"Hey DiNozzo. Ya up for some company?"

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**Wow, what a twist right? **__I can't wait for you to read what happens next so I plan to write another short chapter for this story (hopefully posting this weekend) before I got on to update all of my other past due stories. I hope that is okay with all of you.__** PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW AS I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU ARE OKAY WITH THIS TWIST. **__Know that I will give you the missing scenes in the next few chapters. __**Thank you!**_


	18. Gibbs To The Rescue? Or Not

_**Author's Note: **__It's my birthday today and in honor of that I wanted to give you an update as a thank you to all of you for your amazing patience! I am still dealing with health issues that are resulting in debilitating fatigue so it's harder to find energy to write like I used to. The good news is that we are trying different treatments (don't worry it's not cancer that I know of) and my energy should return in a few weeks if all goes well._

_**~ Enjoy! ~ **_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously On A Deadly Phobia**_**:**

_**End of Ch. 17 –**__ Once he recovered from the abrupt and unexpected shock of the noise combined with disappointment that his plan had come to such a screeching halt before he had even been able to put it fully into motion – Tony's stomach dropped at what he spotted next . . ._

_Gibbs?_

_He stared wide eyed at his bound boss wriggling in the vice-like arms of the two captors. Tony quickly took stock of the swelling bruise that was forming around Gibbs' right eye and the small trickle of blood leaking from an obviously split lip. While taking in the bloodied lips Tony realized that Gibbs was smiling. 'What the -?' _

"_Hey DiNozzo. Ya up for some company?" _

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Eighteen **

**Hostage House – Basement Level**

. . . "Hey DiNozzo. Ya up for some company?" . . .

Tony's mouth was hanging open as he stared in total disbelief at the unexpected site of his boss. So many thoughts and questions flooded his mind that for once it rendered the Senior Agent speechless. 'W_hat the hell was going on? Was he hallucinating? How did they get to Gibbs? Or did Gibbs track down their location and come to rescue him only to get nabbed in the process? Did he get caught on purpose? Where was the rest of the team? '_

The onslaught of so many confusing emotions swirling around inside his head causing the already weakened and injured agent to feel even more unstable as a small wave of dizziness hit him. Suddenly he felt himself starting to lose his balance ever so slightly as the room began to tilt forward. He felt his body slowly leaning further and further backwards as though a magnet were pulling his back down towards the floor like a piece of steel.

Thankfully, Michael Kincaid had been standing so closely behind him and noticed the feeling of more and more of the agent's body weight as it leaned back against him more and more. He was grateful that he was in close enough proximity to where he could attempt to keep the weak agent upright. He knew if he had been any further away - he would not have been able to catch him in time and his new friend would have continued to fall backwards all the way down to the hard floor.

At the top of the stairs Gibbs was experiencing his own feelings of shock as his eyes zeroed in on his Senior Field Agent's pale and bruised appearance, taking quick inventory of the rest of Tony's obvious injuries, his mind not wanting to think about the ones that weren't visible.

Gibbs had forced himself to smile when the idiots holding him first opened the basement door. He did it mainly to antagonize the men who were holding him but also in an attempt to ease Tony's mind since he knew that his second in command was _**not**_ expecting him to show up in this manner.

But as soon as he saw Tony at the bottom of the stairwell - the cocky smile he wore immediately changed to a terse, straight line as anger set in. He found himself wanting to rip the two men beside him into pieces for the damage he could see that his agent had endured at their hands.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the boom of a shouting voice to his left as Cal shouted down to Tony and the dentist.

"Now where in the hell do you two think **you're **going? Dammit, Jesse git down there'n and git those two secured again – NOW!"

Cal tightened his hold on Gibb's forearm as he reached over with his other hand to hold Gibbs by the hair as well. He'd be damned if he was going to let this one out of his grasp so soon after obtaining him!

Downstairs Michael was struggling to keep Tony upright and kept hoping the agent to snap out of his shock so he could help steady himself. Finally his hopes came true as Tony shook his head, trying to shake the dizziness away, turning his face towards the dentist wearing an expression that silently screamed for an explanation.

"What the hell's the matter with him?" Jesse yelled to Michael as he stepped off the bottom step - now close enough to see Tony's dazed expression himself.

"He just got a little dizzy that's all – take it easy!" Kincaid replied with more venom that he had ever spouted before. All the while not even glancing towards Jesse - never taking his dark brown eyes away from Tony's slightly glazed green ones, as he continued trying to get through to the man.

"Tony, you need to come with me, we need to walk back over to that wall over there. Okay can you do that?" Tony blinked a few times as he regained full use of his mind and body, the shock of seeing Gibbs finally dissipating. Using his make shift crutch he slowly hobbled over to the far wall – helped along by Kincaid whom had pulled Tony's free arm over his own shoulder, matching him step for step until they reached their destination.

"Both of you, turn around and face the wall, hands behind your back! If either of you try anything – Cal won't hesitate to shoot our new guest somewhere that will hurt like hell - but won't give him the mercy of death! Now MOVE!"

Tony didn't follow the instructions but did turn enough to watch as Jesse took care of Kincaid first. After securing the Dentist's hands behind his back once again, the impatient ex-con yanked roughly on Kincaid's arm, turning him back around to face forward while pushing him so his back was pressed firmly against the wall.

Wasting no more time he pushing him downwards by pressing hard on the top of his shoulders until the angry dentist was once again seated on the dirty ground.

Tony's head had finally cleared in the time it took for Jesse to finish with Kincaid. He turned his head towards Jesse just in time to see the shady man coming towards him – Tony shot him a look of pure hatred – a look that said '_You are a dead man when I get us outta these bonds!'_

Jesse just stared right back sporting an equal amount of venom – then suddenly without warning Jesse savagely kicked the makeshift crutch out from underneath Tony's arm -causing him to free fall, landing hard on the same side as his bad leg.

Yelling out in agony, Tony found he couldn't stop the scream even if he had tried, he laid as still as he could with his cheek pressed tightly against the filthy floor focusing only on breathing deeply in an attempt to ride out the indescribable pain.

Seconds before Jesse's unsolicited attack on Tony, Gibbs had remained calm while standing at the top of the stairs with Cal. The man was still holding onto him with one hand wrapped painfully tight around Gibbs' bicep. Unfortunately Cal's other hand was holding onto a gun of which Gibbs could feel uncomfortable pressing firmly against his back, positioned right between his shoulder blades. It didn't take a genius to figure out that a gunshot at that level, would essentially cause the Marine's heart to basically explode if he were to pull the trigger. Gun or no gun, Gibbs knew he had to keep himself in check in order to stay alive for his senior agent's sake – the man who was like a Son to him.

But the second Gibbs witnessed the man he already knew to be Jesse, kicking the piece of wood out from under Tony's arm – all bets were off! He jerked his arm away from Cal's meaty fist with such a force, that his surprised captor could not maintain his tight grip! Heading quickly down the stairs Gibbs yelled up to the stunned man with the gun.

"If you're gonna shoot me – then shoot me! But you'll be killing the one person who's gonna get you what you want! I am **going** to help my **agent!**"

Gibbs was seething with anger – anger that was also fueling him on. Cal realized there was nowhere their newly captive lead agent could run anyway so he proceeded to walk down the stairs slowly to make sure things didn't get out of hand.

Tony was not even aware of what was happening on the stairwell – the pain too intense and feelings of overwhelming exhaustion from all that he had endured so far - further clouding his mind.

Before he had even begun to breathe the pain down to a manageable level, he felt his arms being pulled behind his back and tightly cuffed using what had to be his own cuffs. He thought for a moment how degrading it was to have your own cuffs used on you – cuffs meant for the criminal, not the officer or agent who owned them.

He then felt himself being pulled up by one of his trapped arms as Jesse yanked him up to a seated position and spun him around until he too was sitting with his back against the wall, just a few feet from Kincaid. The movement only managed to cause his leg pain to flare back up again just when it had finally started to calm down a little.

Tony squeezed his eyes shut from the even more intense pain as he tried once again to dial it down. His eyes remained shut as he felt a hand on his shoulder and his nostrils took in the familiar scent of his boss.

"Tony! Talk t' me. How ya holdin' up?"

'_Uh-oh'_ Tony thought, _'Gibbs is using his nice voice again!'_ – the tone that only managed to make Tony nervous. He didn't like 'nice Gibbs' – _nice _Gibbs meant a _worried_ Gibbs.

" 'M fi-iine b-osss." He replied in a breathless whisper.

"Yeah? Well ya don't _**look**_ fine!'

"**HEY! **Enough with the Father-Son act! Cal barked out as he arrived behind where Gibbs was kneeling next to Tony. "Jesse! Git our new guest the same accommodations as his other friends here."

Gibbs snarled at Jesse the entire time as he was forced away from Tony and purposely positioned on the other side of Kincaid – keeping him as far away from Tony as they could.

**3 Hours Earlier At NCIS Headquarters. . .**

"Yeah, Gibbs."

As usual everyone stilled in silence as they watched Gibbs taking the call, knowing it was most likely the kidnappers again. McGee didn't bother trying to trace the calls anymore since they knew the call would be placed using the same IP phone they had used for past calls.

"I've been thinking about your ransom demands and there's only one way in hell you're gonna get the kind of money you're asking for!"

Then Abby's, Ziva's and McGee's mouths all dropped to the floor as Gibbs started to walk away from them towards the elevator while holding up one of his hands to silently order them to stay put. They all remained frozen in position as they heard the ding of the elevator opening and then sliding shut leaving all of them out of the loop entirely.

Once inside his "conference room" and free from having his team hear of the plan that he knew they would object to, Gibbs started talking again after Cal warned him he would hang up if he didn't get to the point.

"Obviously what little research on my agent that you did – it didn't tell you everything! If it had you would have found out that Tony is actually _estranged_ from his Father – disowned even." Gibbs taunted.

"Even if that wasn't the case - Tony's Dad is also **broke **and I am not just telling you that so you will drop this insane demand for a ransom. SO, that means there's no chance in hell you will get that kind of money from DiNozzo Senior OR from NCIS for that matter which leaves you with no choice but to accept the offer that I am going to give you. A proposition if you will." Then he paused, waiting for the other shoe to drop while Cal absorbed this new intel.

"Well, if that IS true and not some game you are playing, then you damn well better have another plan to get us what we want – or you'll be left with nothing but pieces of your agent that you'll be finding for months to come!" Cal's voice shook with both anger and apprehension as he waited to hear the so called '_proposition_'.

"You can save your threats – they won't work on me. So listen and listen good because I'll only say this **once!** Unlike Agent DiNozzo - I am **not** estranged from** my** Father. We may not be as wealthy as the DiNozzo's were but we can pull together a hell of a lot more money than you'll ever get from any of your other options!"

He then shut up and remained silent again for a few long seconds just to make the other man sweat.

"There's one condition to this proposition." He finally added.

"Yeah? And what the hell is **that**? You're pushing your luck Agent Gibbs!"

"You're gonna exchange that Dentist you are holding – for **me**."

_**Hostage House - Present Time Frame . . .**_

Gibbs had been waiting for the right moment to force the man known as Cal, to fulfill his part of the bargain and release the Dentist.

He knew the man would resist, assuming that he now had Gibbs so there was no need to keep up with his end of their agreement. An agreement he had most likely never actually intended to follow through with.

"So Cal . . . it's time you held up your end of the bargain, time to let the Dentist go. I'd hate t' think you weren't at least a man of your word." Gibbs question broke the brief silence.

"Yeah well, if I DO go back on my word - what the hell would you be able to do about it anyway?" Cal replied, laughing out loud.

Gibbs calmly responded, "Yeah well, that's what I thought you'd say. That's why I have one of my agent's - a former Mossad operative and trained killer – posted outside the apartment where your girlfriend lives. Oh, and just so you know – my agent is officially off duty right now so . . . whatever she does on her own time . . . is none of my business. Oh by the way - if she gets word that Kincaid never showed up at the drop spot . . . well, let's just say it won't be good."

Tony, who was hanging onto every word that Gibbs was saying, had to force back the full out laugh that threatened to come out – enjoying the fact that Gibbs had Cal by the family jewels!

Gibbs remained silent as Cal stared at him with a look of shock and disbelief. Unsure of whether he should call the man's bluff or not. But seeing the smirk on Gibbs face combined with the man's very cold ice blue stare, he wisely chose the latter.

Slowly Cal sauntered over to where the dentist was seated.

"Alright Kincaid! Looks like yer about to be a free man. But you listen to me, I made a little side deal with this Agent Gibbs here – **only** to get some money outta this. The deal was – him for you. So that means you will be leaving us."

Cal paused, breathing through his overwhelming anger over the changes to his initial plan.

"But so help me God - you say **one thing** about this to ANYONE, especially the police, the press or NCIS - and we'll take you **and your family **out all in one fell swoop! YA GOT THAT?"

Kincaid felt sick to his stomach. On one hand he was thrilled and relieved to hear they were letting him go - but on the other hand, he didn't feel right about leaving the injured agent behind. The kind hearted Italian had come into his office seeking relief of his infected and painfully infected tooth – and only ended up with more pain and suffering as a result. It wasn't right! Kincaid was overcome with guilt, if only he had refused to help the two men whom had come there to collect on his own selfish debts!

Adding to his remorse was the fact that the NCIS agent hadn't thought twice about trying to help _him_ get out of this mess Even after Tony had discovered that it was Kincaid's own gambling debt was the very reason he was hurt and captured in the first place! How could he just leave him there now and go about his merry way?

He knew that no matter what - he had find a way to help save the agent that he had come to respect, the man he had also grown quite fond and felt honored to call - a friend. He decided secretly at that moment, that if they did set him free - he would waste no time finding some way to contact someone at NCIS to demand protection for his family and then tell them anything they wanted to know so they could rescue the remaining two hostages – the men whom were risking their own lives just to save his sorry ass.

Propelled by his decision, Kincaid started to pull himself up into a standing position with a renewed energy – eager to get help for Tony and his boss as soon as possible. Then he was struck with one more possible scenario. . .

Could he actually trust these assholes to actually keep their word and really let him go? What was to stop them from killing him after they got him away from the house? They could be putting on a show for the agents and then once they got him outside – could easily end his life.

"Hey wait a minute!" Kincaid hollered, "How the hell do I know that you won't going to just waste these men as soon as I'm gone? It's pretty obvious your partner Jesse is more than eager to take out Agent DiNozzo!" Michael's voice wavered with nerves and fear, his mouth suddenly going completely dry.

Gibbs didn't miss the way Cal glanced angrily over towards Jesse upon hearing the last thing the dentist had just exposed – it was obvious Cal knew nothing about Jesse's vengeful hatred of Tony. Cal recovered quickly most likely deciding to deal with that new tidbit later.

"Look Kin-caid! The only one you should be worried about right now – is you and your damn family!" Now go with Jesse! He's gonna take you close to the drop off spot where an NCIS agent will pick you up. But he'll be dropping you off at least 2 miles away from there so you're gonna have to huff it if ya don't wanna miss yer ride."

"OH, and we're gonna blindfold you ag'in so you can't tell those agents where we're holed up - if you balk or do anything to resist we can **just **as easily knock you out!"

Kincaid was pulled up to his feet by Jesse, but before he took even one step forward he turned and looked down at Tony, "Hey uh . . . Agent DiNozzo . . . I uh - I'm sorry." He had to fight to control his emotions that were threatening to make his voice falter even more.

Tony nodded his chin upwards in a half nod, silently reassuring the dentist that it was okay. "Don't sweat it Kincaid!" Tony answered, his voice still a fraction of his usual volume. "Everything will work out, you just get back to that wife and daughter of yours and I'll be happy."

Knowing there was not much more that he could say, Kincaid nodded back to Tony giving him his own silent form of acknowledgement before being pushed towards the stairs by an anxious Jesse.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and if I missed any errors I apologize and I promise I will proof read this again tomorrow when I have more time and fix any missed errors. Please review and watch for updates to my other stories next.**_


	19. A Glimmer Of Hope

_**Important note: **__You may want to re-read chapter 18 to refresh your memory and also because I made corrections and a few slight improvements to the writing. _

_**Reward: **__As a reward for your patience__** I have made this entire chapter pretty much 100% hurt/comfort with nice Gibbs/Tony scenes. **__I hope you like it__**. **_

_**FYI –**__ I double checked but did not see where I have ever stated the last name of Jesse or of Cal – so I mention Jesse's last name in this chapter so if any of you recall my stating a different last name before now – please send me a Private Message. Thank you!_

_**NCIS episode Feedback:**__ Did anyone else feel like the writers kind of dropped the ball on the story behind Wendy and Tony's break up? I'm sure there is more to come but I had hoped there was a more tragic reason behind their break up. Not just that Tony worked too much. Wld love to know your thoughts if you have any on this subject._

_**~ Enjoy! ~ **_

_~ncis~__ncis__~ncis~__ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously on A Deadly Phobia:**_

_**End of Ch. 18 – **__Kincaid was pulled up to his feet by Jesse, but before he took even one step forward he turned and looked down at Tony, "Hey uh . . . Agent DiNozzo . . . I uh - I'm sorry." He had to fight to control his emotions that were threatening to make his voice falter even more._

_Tony nodded his chin upwards in a half nod, silently reassuring the dentist that it was okay. "Don't sweat it Kincaid!" Tony answered, his voice still a fraction of his usual volume. "Everything will work out, you just get back to that wife and daughter of yours and I'll be happy."_

_Knowing there was not much more that he could say, Kincaid nodded back to Tony giving him his own silent form of acknowledgement before being pushed towards the stairs by an anxious Jesse._

_~ncis~__ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Nineteen **

_**Hostage House – Basement Level**_

Both Tony and Gibbs looked upwards as the door to the basement opened. They watched until they could finally make out which captor was coming down towards them. The light finally lit up the face more so they both realized at the same time that it was Jesse.

Tony swallowed a nervous gulp as he recognized the look of pure hatred exuding from the man's narrowed eyes, He looked pissed even more than he had the last time he had threatened to kill Tony just a few hours earlier after Tony mocked him by saying Cal was the brains and leader of the two man team.

Gibbs immediately tensed as he noticed the looks passing between the long time criminal and his own long time senior field agent –looking just as angry and determined, Jesse swiftly turned his head changing his focus to Gibbs. Now it was Tony's turn to tense up as he watched the seething creep suddenly change his original trajectory towards Tony - and start heading towards Gibbs instead. He had to try and stop him!

"What'rya doin Jesse? You leave Gibbs outta this! It's ME you're mad at." Tony attempted to sway the man's attention back to himself again, hoping to save Gibbs from harm on his behalf. Even when both of them were tied up and rendered helpless, he still felt an obligation to watch his boss' six!

Jesse just continued on his path towards Gibbs, silent and visibly fuming. Once he got over to Gibbs, he grabbed a hold of a chunk of his thick silver hair and used it along with a tight grasp on the man's arm to jerk him away to another side of the room not too far over to the left where there was a couple of additional exposed pipes protruding out from the cement wall. Gibbs could he had no choice but to follow in the direction he was being dragged to – it was that, or risk losing a handful of his hair not to mention the skin it was connected to.

As soon as Jesse got him into the position he wanted, seated in front of the exposed pipes with his hands still tied behind his back, the mad man reached back and pulled out the handcuffs they had confiscated from Gibbs earlier and he used them to cuff one tightly around the ropes binding Gibbs hands together, and snapped the other end to the strongest of the extruding pipes. Gibbs gut was churning as he thought of the only possible reason for the action. Jesse was moving him far enough away from Tony that he wouldn't be able to help him if needed. He wouldn't be able to do much of anything now that he was cuffed in place.

Standing back up to his full height Jesse stared down at Gibbs. "I don't know if you remember me Agent Gibbs but your Agent here is responsible for all the time I spent in prison. I remember you where there when I was first apprehended. I figured it was about time I got all those years of pent up anger and frustration now that I finally have your precious agent in my grasp."

Pausing, he finally continued. "Ya know, I guess in some twisted way I'll also be getting some revenge for your own involvement at the same time since you will be forced to witness what I do to your agent - and you'll be powerless to stop me!" then grinning with renewed excitement he turned and headed towards the part of the room where Tony remained seated.

Tony was getting frustrated himself and angry with his broken body – particularly his leg - for the numbness and pain that forced him to remain seated on the floor, unable to attempt to hoist himself up to tackle Jesse before he had a chance to act on his vengeance. His heart was in his throat as he watched the insane dirtbag as he gained ground on Tony in a hurry.

Tony put on his best cocky expression only to hide his anxiety from the other man as well as to keep Gibbs from sensing his fear. He wanted to be strong for his boss so as not to look like some kind of coward. Gibbs own mouth became dry as he worried about what was going to happen next. His wrists started to chafe from his insistent yanking and rubbing in an attempt to somehow break the chain between the two metal bracelets and free himself. He had never felt so helpless in his entire life and the only thing he had to hang onto was the relief that at least he was here to offer his support even if right now it was only by being present so he didn't feel abandoned. One way or another he would get free and help him.

He decided to try taunting the dangerous ex-con in an attempt to lure him away from Tony just as Tony had done for him earlier.

"Hey Gates!" (Jesse's last name)

"I'm the one who ordered Tony to chase you down and arrest you back then! He was only following orders. Are you not man enough to go for a Marine is that it? You can only handle someone who is already injured and weak? What the hell kind of pansy are you anyway? No wonder Cal is in charge."

Tony's eyes grew even wider as Jesse stopped immediately upon hearing that last remark. He was just one foot away from Tony at the time.

Gibbs watched, hoping the sudden stop meant Jesse would turn back to go after him instead. Dropping his head in disappointment over what happened next.

"You don't think I see what you are trying to do there Agent Gibbs?" Jesse said without taking his cold eyes off of Tony's weary green ones. "I already told you – I'll make you suffer MORE just by what I am going to do to good old Tony here."

Suddenly Jesse knelt down and grabbed a hold of Tony's face tightly squeezing his face with one hand while pulling out his sharp knife with the other. He had the knife sheath tucked into the back waistband of his jeans and simply reached back to pull it out of its holder. It was the same kind of hidden sheath he had pulled a knife from the last time he had injured the NCIS Agent.

Moving the hand that was previously squeezing Tony's face like a vice, he slid it down until he had Tony by the neck, again squeezing just as tightly there. A few flicks of his extremely sharp knife and 5 buttons fell from the front of Tony's dress shirt, slightly exposing his chest.

Jesse proceeded to push Tony's shirt open further using the tip of the knife, barely grazing Tony's chest just enough to cause the agent to suck in his breath, expecting to feel pain from cuts. But Jesse had held the knife with such finesse that he not left so much as a mark on Tony's slightly tanned flesh – at least for the moment.

Jesse then looked down at Tony's ribcage, Gibbs noticed this and knew that the asshole was looking for the scar from when he had stabbed Tony all those years ago. _'What a sadistic bastard!'_ Gibbs thought, seething more and more at the thought.

Tony released the air he had sucked in right before the grip around his neck increased, cutting off his air supply completely. Jesse relaxed his grip just enough to allow him to take in the shortest of breaths and then tightened it once again as if playing some kind of barbaric game. Tony watched Jesse's line of sight and realized what he was looking at. It caused his skin to prickle with gooseflesh at seeing the sickening enjoyment that was evident on his torturer's face.

"Admiring the result of your past sloppy escape attempt Gates?" Gibbs taunted. You get off on stabbing people? I'll remember that when I come after you! Maybe someone needs to give you a taste of your own medicine!" he continued ranting.

But all Gibbs' comments managed to do was anger Jesse even further as he raised the knife up once again only this time he brought it down slowly coming to rest the flat side against Tony's collarbone. Letting go of Tony's neck he smirked in amusement as the agent he hated gasped for air trying to replace much needed oxygen.

After he recovered somewhat Tony kept himself from looking down at the weapon, keeping his dramatic glare directed at Jesse's face. That was until he felt the tickling heat of his own blood as it started to flow lightly down his chest.

Jesse had turned the knife from the flat side slowly to the sharpest edge while lazily gliding the knife's edge sideways just below Tony's collarbone, stopping only after the knife had left a 5 inch gash in the it's wake. It was a fairly shallow cut, he had been cautious not to let the blade go in too deep, after all he wasn't going for a kill with the move, but he was definitely going for pain and discomfort.

"**You feel better now you sick sonofabitch?**" Tony shouted, partly to cover for the scream of agony that he wanted to let out as the severe sting suddenly hit him as his nerve ending seemed to finally realize they'd been damaged.

"Does that make you feel like you're getting revenge on me somehow? I've been scratched harder by a girlfriend's finger nail!"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs knew he had to stop his agent's fired up comments, knowing it would only cause Jesse to hurt him worse. "Stand down, that's an order!" he added.

Tony took in a loud deep breath through a slightly clenched mouth as he forced himself to calm down. He was grateful that Gibbs was there and knew, as always, that the man was right in ordering him to shut up essentially. His words being a verbal head slap since the _physical_ version was not possible.

Jesse pushed off of Tony, standing up to his full height. Still staring down at the bleeding NCIS agent he seethed with anger from years of built up resentment that had resulted in his hatred of a man he barely knew. Turning on his heel he flew up the stairs, turning just before he exited to throw out another warning.

"I need a damn smoke break before I break your damn neck! As he turned to walk out the door he muttered, "Cal would be pretty pissed off if I killed of our only hope of getting a damn ransom!"

Gibbs and Tony both sagged in relief upon hearing the slam and the lock being set on the upstairs door.

"Tony! I need you to tell me how bad it is – and **don't** tell me it's _fine_ if you know what's good for you!"

Tony looked down at his new wound and evaluated the speed in which it was bleeding, finding it not to be very heavy at all. He cringed as he took in the long, smooth red line that oozed enough blood to cause the waistband of his pants to become slightly damp with the run off.

"Uhh . . . well . . . it doesn't look too bad I guess. S'not bleeding very heavily so I suppose _that's _a good sign."

Gibbs watched his agent's facial expressions closely since he would know immediately if Tony was lying. Pleasantly surprised, he found that he appeared to be telling the truth.

"Okay, that's good. But we still need to get you outta here."

"How bout you boss? You okay? I mean, I don't know how they nabbed you in the first place – did they knock you out? I imagine they would have to in order to even bring you down . . . did th-"

"DiNozzo stop, just listen to me. I came willingly alright? No one knocked me out, no one hurt me. It was my idea – me for the dentist."

"What? Dammit boss, I swear you have some kind of death wish!"

"Oh yeah? _**I**_ do DiNozzo? Well at least I'm not some kind of magnet to danger like you seem to be! Who the hell gets in trouble at the damn dentist?" he made sure to flash a smirk in Tony's direction to let him know he was attempting to lighten the mood.

"Yeah well, I'm sure you've heard of the old saying boss- wrong time, wrong place. Well I can't help it if I just happen to be in the wrong place . . . a lot okay? I mean jus-" Tony conceded wincing in pain that ceased his speaking mid-sentence. Head, tooth and leg pain all having been aggravated just from the sheer exertion of their rather argumentative banter, knowing it was coming from a place of concern for each other's well being since both men felt equally responsible for watching the other's six.

Gibbs didn't miss the wince of pain that stopped his rambling senior agent in his tracks. "Tony take it easy." He pleaded, resorting to a first name basis whenever he wanted his best agent to know he was sincere.

"I mean it, calm down and just take some deep breaths if you can. I shouldn't have let this conversation go that far."

Minutes passed before Tony felt well enough to speak again, "Thanks boss . . . uh - even though you are in danger now too - and you definitely put yourself at risk just for me . . . I um - I appreciate it and I'm . . . I'm glad – you're here." Tony looked down at his own legs the whole time he was speaking, he hated to look people in the eye when he was being sentimental or sincere about his feelings.

Gibbs was the opposite, when he was speaking from his heart he would look people directly in the eyes, but his problem was more about trying not to come across angry with his words since his emotion tended to come out much more gruff than he intended.

"Yeah well we ain't outta this yet so, you better save that appreciation until I _**do**_ get us outta here." Gibbs purposely shifted Tony's focus back to their present situation mainly to avoid having any more emotional chatter but also to get Tony back into a fighting frame of mind rather than depressed and stressed with worry.

"Well if anyone can do that boss it's you so, you just tell me what I can do to help and I'm on it!"

"Okay good – then the first thing I need you to do is tell me exactly what injuries we're dealing with – and don't give me that 'fine' bullshit."

"Uh, don'cha mean- injuries that_** I'm**_ dealing with?" Tony jested. Then he couldn't help letting his head drop down on his chest for a minute, resting his painful head and jaw and trying to again breathe through a flare up of his leg pain.

"No DiNozzo, I don't. Any injury you have affects me too and I don't mean physically. I also need to know so I can determine just what you can do physically if we find a way to escape from this basement."

"Fair 'nuff. " his words came out muffled by where his mouth rested downward towards his shirt. Lifting his head wearily while keeping his eyes closed, he swallowed from strong feelings of emotion caused by the sincere words his boss had just spoken. he ran through an only slightly downplayed description of his injuries . . .

"Well I'm sure Ziva told you about the tooth - 's worse now since the dentist cut my gums to drain the infection. Feels hot now like maybe the infection is getting worse. Small stab wound to my hand, not bad, seems to have stopped bleeding. Busted my leg when they tossed me down the stairs – Doc put it back in place - we think. You know about the knife wound on my chest, seems to be shallow . . . 'n it's already starting to clot – looks like there's a little blood still coming out but not much."

"Aren't you leaving something out Tony?" Gibbs hinted.

"Uh, nope – I think that just about covers it." His voice straining and sounding weak again as if the adrenaline surge that he was fueled by after Gibbs shocking arrival, had finally started to disappear, leaving him bone weary and beyond tired.

"Uh-huh, so you don't figure I need to know about your injured ribs? Don't think I haven't noticed how you are favoring your side and taking only shallow breaths whenever possible."

Tony shook his head slightly to keep from passi- . . . falling asleep – a half smile appearing on his face as he responded to his bosses' almost psychic observation. "How do you do that boss? My ribs are really not hurt that bad, just bruised from when they pretty much dumped me out of the vehicle when we got here. Seriously though boss, ya gotta show me that trick if we get outta this. You always know . . . things and – well it's kinda creepy."

"Okay, but hey it's not '_if'_ we get out of this Tony . . . it's'_when'_ we get out of this. So it was obvious you and Kincaid were trying to escape when I first got here – and don't tell me you just going to look for the john."

"Yeah, the doc – he was actually pretty cool and he only –"

Gibbs gut clenched as he looked over when Tony once again stopped talking mid-sentence. He could tell by the way his agent was loudly sucking in air through clenched teeth while his eyebrows knitted together in a look of sheer agony - sweat breaking out on his face from his body's fight to control the pain somehow.

"Take it easy Tony, slow and easy."

Letting out the air he had just sucked in, Tony blew the breath out with his lips pursed like a woman does when doing Lamaze breathing, or like he was blowing out a birthday candle. Having been injured as much as Tony had been, he had found the Lamaze like breathing method to be the most helpful in getting his body to relax and not tense up which always made pain a lot worse.

"So I ws jus' sayin' – Kincaid was a good guy and tried to help me numerous times. His mistake was more of an illness in the form of addiction . . . to gambling." He turned to look towards his boss in the first time in a while, continuing. "He owes someone money, a lot of money." He paused just to rest his jaw that had loosened up from the movement caused by his increased talking – but at the same time the same action seemed to be causing the infected gum line to throb mercilessly.

"Ya get a name DiNozzo?"

Tony frowned, unsure of what Gibbs meant but then it registered. "Oh, you mean who he owes? Uh . . . not yet no. I do know that Laurel and Hardy work for the big guy and came to collect on the debt this morning."

"You think Jesse recognized you? 'S probably how they came up with the plan to kidnap you – thinking how impressed their boss would be if they delivered on the debt."

Tony had turned his head back forward, dropping it down onto his chest again in fatigue.

"Yup . . . you got it. Uh - boss? I'm really starting to feel woozy now . . .'m not sure how much longer I c'n keep from falling asleep" he had been wriggling his hands behind him off and on for the past twenty minutes trying to loosen the bond. He wondered if Gibbs had faired any better.

"Any luck with those cuffs on your end boss?"

"Yeah I'd say so DiNozzo." Gibbs whispered now kneeling down with his mouth close to the level as Tony's ear.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_I thought that would be a fun place to end this chapter. _

_**Next time on A Deadly Phobia: **__We'll see what Ziva and Tim have been up to as well as Abby and Ducky back at headquarters. Also – find out what happens next as Gibbs and Tony formulate a plan to subdue Jesse while they wait for Cal to return._


	20. Closer To Freedom

_**AUTHOR'S APOLOGY NOTE: I know you all probably resigned yourselves to the fact that I abandoned my stories and I apologize for making you think that. IT IS NOT TRUE – I have said before that I will NEVER abandon ANY of my stories and I am really trying to get back into making regular updates. It has just proven hard with my current job due to working 10-11 hours 5 days a week which leaves my weekends slammed catching up on life and housework, etc, etc.**_

_**I made this chapter longer to make up for lagging upates and I really hope you enjoy it. Please send me a PRIVATE MSG if you catch any inconsistencies in this chapter. For reviews use the review button but I prefer any errors or other feedback is sent privately like I do for other writers out of respect. **_

_**As an extra treat for your patience I also gave you lots of Papa Gibbs comfort to our hurt YOU for sticking with me. Updates coming soon for all my other fics.**_

_**~ Enjoy! ~ **_

_**~ncis~**__**ncis**__**~ncis~**__**ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis**_

_**Previously On; A Deadly Phobia**__** (e**__**nd of Ch. 19): Gibbs asking Tony about how he came to be in his current situation . . .**_

"You think Jesse recognized you? That could be why they came up with the plan to kidnap you – thinking how impressed their boss would be if they delivered on the debt."

Tony had turned his head forward again, dropping it down onto his chest again in fatigue.

"Yup . . . you got it. Uh - boss? I'm really starting to feel woozy now . . .'m not sure how much longer I c'n keep from falling asleep" he had been wriggling his hands behind him off and on for the past twenty minutes trying to loosen the bond. He wondered if Gibbs had faired any better.

"Any luck with those cuffs on your end boss?"

"Yeah I'd say so DiNozzo." Gibbs whispered now kneeling down with his mouth close to the level as Tony's ear.

**A Deadly Phobia**

**Scene Twenty **

**Hostage House – Basement Level**

"Holy hell Gibbs!" Tony yelled out after he caught his breath enough to speak. Not realizing Gibbs had even gotten free it nearly caused his heart to stop when he was startled by the sound of his boss' voice. His mentor was close enough to Tony that the weakened agent could actually feel the man's breath on his ear and neck.

Tony's pain level spiked right back up after have subsided briefly, all due to the physical jolt his body had suffered due to the shocking of seeing boss kneeling right next to him when only seconds earlier he had been several feet across the room.

"Geez Gibbs!" he ranted, reaching up to wipe away a bead of sweat that was trickling down his cheek as his adrenaline and pain level started to calm down a little.

"Are ya tryin' ta kill me before we even escape – or did you think it would be funny to scare the living daylights outta me?"

"Ya lookin' for some kind of apology DiNozzo? You know how I feel about those." Gibbs smirked. The fact that he was literally biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing outright, has not escaped Tony's attention.

"Of course not, expecting an apology from you would be like expecting . . . Santa Clause to become real." He deadpanned. "-'m jus sayin' . . . a little head's up would have been nice!"

Gibbs immediately noticed how Tony was breathing cautiously as he spoke and also how he hard he was trying to hide the pain he was in – Gibbs knew from past experience that his agent would bend over backwards to keep his boss from seeing him in a weakened or vulnerable position even if it was due to injuries that would bring most men to their knees, bitching and moaning.

"Alright - we can talk about this later. Right now we need to come up with a plan to get outta here, but before we do that I need to check you out and make sure you aren't going to pass out on me as soon as we get half way up the stairs."

Tony's head snapped up as he turned to look at Gibbs, "What? Pass out? How many times I gotta tell everyone - DiNozzo's don-"

"Yeah yeah I've heard it. Well whatever you wanna call it Tony, I am going to make sure you stay with me. Ya got it?"

"Okay okay, I got it. Just be gentle okay boss?" Tony always resorted to joking whenever any attention was directed towards his own well being, Gibbs knew enough to know that the unusual behavior stemmed all the way back to childhood insecurities that he had developed thanks to his selfish and uncaring Father. What he wouldn't give for ten minutes alone with the man who all but neglected his own Son to the point that even tough as nails Gibbs had trouble reprogramming his best agent's overcompensating and people pleasing ways.

Pushing those thoughts aside before the anger took his focus away completely, Gibbs proceeded to carefully assess Tony's injuries starting with his leg. Upon seeing that the make shift splint had loosened somewhat from Tony's recent movement and last escape attempt, Gibbs gave Tony a quiet warning to make sure he didn't yell out too loudly before he made fast work of tightening the bindings again to better support the broken bones.

Glancing at his agent's face before continuing with the rest of his assessment, Gibbs saw eyes that were clenched so tightly shut that it caused each line of pain that was etched in Tony's suddenly bone white face, to deepen even further. Gibbs knew the pain had to be intense for Tony to not even be able to continue with the façade that he was '_fine_'.

He paused before continuing with his injury assessment knowing that he needed to offer Tony some non-physical support as well, something that he admittedly wasn't very good at, but that he knew Tony rallied from like water to a dry sponge.

Lightly cupping his hand around the back of Tony's neck and squeezing - Gibbs offered some additional encouragement. "Listen Tony, I just need you to hang in there a little longer. The sooner I can get you out of here, the sooner so we can get you something for the pain. Okay?" . . .

" Tony - you with me?" he added gently after not getting any reply or reaction beyond heavy breathing.

"Yeah . . . " Tony paused to take in another deep breath, "Y-yeah I'm - okaayy boss." Tony finally opened his eyes and looked up, Gibbs was pleased to see some color had returned to his face. "I don't know why the pain got to me so much just then, I mean you barely tightened the bindings. Guess I don't have as high of a tolerance for pain as I thought I did." Once again resorting to self deprecation, much to Gibbs chagrins.

"Tony listen to me, you have more tolerance for pain than even I have had in the past - so I do NOT want to hear you say that again!" but after feeling a severe flinch from where he still held onto Tony's neck, he wanted to head slap himself for being so gruff. Easing off on the tight grip he had on Tony's neck, Gibbs softened his voice before continuing.

"You don't have to play tough guy with me Tony, in my opinion, it takes a real man to admit when he's hurting.".

"Rii-ight. Just like you always admit when you are in pain right boss?" Tony was being sarcastic, he had never once seen his Marine trained boss ever complain about pain even when he was shot in Ducky's autopsy lab or nearly blown up while undercover on a Navy ship.

"Well, maybe you didn't witness any of those times Tony but trust me, there were plenty. Shannon was the only one I ever let see that side of me for some reason – then after she died I just started keeping it to myself. So you are right, I don't admit to pain like I should – or like I used to. I guess you aren't the only one who needs to break some old habits."

Tony's jaw dropped open in awe of what Gibbs had just confessed to. Did the almighty Leroy Jethro Gibbs just admit to having a fault? A crack in the armor? No, he couldn't have – he wouldn't have.

"Cat got yer tongue DiNozzo?"

"Uh . . . yeah I uh . . . boss I . . . well I must be dying for real if you are telling me something so – uuh . . . personal. I mean, you don't do that. I must be in worse shape than I thought. Did I just hallucinate that?"

The familiar light slap that Tony suddenly felt on the back of his neck was Gibbs way of letting him know that he wasn't hallucinating.

"You repeat that to anyone DiNozzo and you'll be _wishing_ it had just been a head slap when I get done with you." Gibbs warned him, just before shooting his agent one of his rare half smiles that said more to Tony than words could ever have conveyed.

"Lips sealed boss." Tony replied as he reached up and affectionately rubbed the spot on his neck that his boss had just smacked – essentially letting Tony know that he cared.

"Okay now sit still!"" Gibbs commanded, back to his usual gruff self, "I still need to take a look at that hand, your ribs . . . oh and also that infected tooth and jaw you think you are hiding from me."

"Okay fine but what about you? That eye of yours is now _**twice**_ as swollen as it was when you got here. You could have a concussion of your own ya know . . . d'ya think about that? Maybe I shou-"

"DiNozzo!"

Enough said, Tony thought to himself. He had tried to shift the focus off of his own injuries to no avail.

The only reason he gave up so easily was because he felt as though _nothing_ could hurt him at the moment anyway mainly due to being on such a high after the man he put on a higher pedestal than Superman – had admitted to being human and actually feeling pain at some point. Tony felt almost giddy from the admission as well as from finally realizing that the man actually _did_ care about him and respect him as a person.

Gibbs proceeded to peek under the wrapping on Tony's hand to make sure the bleeding hadn't started up again, he avoided mentioning the infected fluids that were just starting to appear at the edges of the wound. He then moved on, hiking up Tony's dress shirt to expose the now multicolored rib cage and abdomen. He immediately tensed with anger upon seeing the clear pointed shape of what could only be a man's boot tip where someone had obviously kicked his agent severely enough to fracture the underlying rib or ribs. He had enough cracked & broken ribs himself that he didn't need to put Tony through the agony of physically feeling for the shifting bones to confirm the diagnosis. Lightly easing the shirt back down he swallowed back his rising anger and moved on to take a look at his senior agent's mouth.

All the while Tony had been engaging in a long winded dialogue about things that had nothing to do with their current predicament. Gibbs laughed to himself as he realized that even if half of his tongue had been cut out, Tony would somehow _still _find a way to keep on talking. What was it that Kate's Sister mentioned in Tony's hospital room after he was admitted for a concussion and chest injuries caused from a bullet that had hit his bullet proof vest at close range? Something about nervous responses . . .

Shaking off the bad memory of yet another time he had nearly lost the man who had become so much like a son to him, Gibbs reached up and moved his hand towards Tony's jaw.

Tony abruptly stopped talking as he realized where Gibbs was headed, he immediately started to protest what he knew was coming.

"Naahh Gibbs it's fine – really so just stop. Seriously, my mouth is the least of our worries, it's fine . . . really."

"Uh-huh. Whenever you use the words 'really' and 'fine' that many times in one sentence Tony, I know you are lying. All you have managed to do is make me curious and even more intent on taking a look. Now shut up - and open up."

Tony rolled his eyes dramatically before he reluctantly obeyed, knowing he had no choice at this point even if he tried.

Gibbs visibly cringed at the sight of the lightly bleeding and heavily infected gum line he was looking at, he had his own share of root canals and abscess teeth in his past but this was ten times worse than he had imagined making it all the more clear that Tony was either the most stubborn human being on the planet – or the strongest, having been able to even function with what had to be incredible pain and discomfort.

Not wanting to alarm the injured man with what he wanted to say, Gibbs settled for telling a little white lie in order to keep them both going so they could get the hell out of there.

"Okay DiNozzo – you'll live. I've seen worse."

Tony found himself slightly puzzled by the words since the dreadful pain in his mouth and the associated pain along his jaw line, had nearly surpassed that of his busted limb. Yet he felt relieved at the same time, happy to be done with the scrutiny of which he knew Gibbs was using to check each and every injury out.

"Good, now can we please get going? It will be easier to overtake Cal while Jesse is gone – especially since I won't be able to help much."

"Ya-_**think **_DiNozzo?"

Leaning down, Gibbs reached one are around Tony trying to get under his arms to help him stand. "Okay Tony, lean on me until I can get you up, then I will grab that crutch you were using and bring it to you."

Nodding, Tony bit down slightly on his lower lip and started to brace himself for the movement that he knew would be exacerbate his pain.

_**Meanwhile Across Town At The Drop Off Spot . . .**_

McGee waited nervously inside his NCIS standard issue dark blue sedan watching for any sign that his cargo was arriving. He had no idea when they were set to arrive since there was no way of knowing - although Gibbs had told he and Ziva they were to wait as long as 5 hours – but beyond that – all bets were off and they were to follow the back-up plan, Plan B Gibbs had briefed them on before he left.

Tim had already been waiting for 2 hours and was getting very bored. For a few minutes he even missed having Tony and his never ending stream of chatter to keep him awake and alert. 'Hmmm, was that always your ulterior motive DiNozzo? Purposely talking to keep me on my toes throughout long stakeouts?'

"Sir? Did you say something about Special Agent DiNozzo sir? Do you see something?"

McGee physically jumped in his seat upon hearing the quiet voice from the ear wig hidden in his ear. He sometimes forgot he was even wearing one and in this instance he also wasn't even aware that he has spoken those words _aloud_.

"**No!**" he responded too exuberantly, "I . . . uh, I mean everything is fine Officer Richter. Have you guys picked up on anything?"

There was one local LEO and one other NCIS agent inside a van that was painted to resemble a Plumbing company, the van was parked a block near a business so as not to look suspicious. They were monitoring the streets using video surveillance and every vehicle that came along was photographed and sent to Abby where she was running them through a program to check out each and every one of them thoroughly.

Another NCIS Agent, Special Agent Warren Coombs whom Vance had let Gibbs borrow from another team, was waiting in another sedan around the corner awaiting instructions from Special Agent McGee whom was in charge of this particular assignment.

McGee's car was parked directly across the street from the drop off spot which was an abandoned Espresso Stand – per Gibbs of course.

"Nothing suspicious yet si- wait . . . hang on, we got a truck coming closer and they seem to be slowing down. I think this is it Sir, seems they have covered up some of the numbers on the license plate with mud.

McGee's adrenaline soared, he was nervous as hell since this was the first solo assignment that he had been given, sure there were men in the van nearby in case things went South, but for the primary pick up it was all up to him. Just as he spotted the truck they had mentioned and started to get out of the car – closing the door behind him as he started across the street when suddenly he noticed the passenger door of the truck opening and realized that the driver was not even planning to come to a full stop!

The driver hit the accelerator and took off down the street as McGee swiveled on his heel while pulling his weapon free from the holster and then fired off a couple of shots aiming for the truck's rear tires. Hitting one tire but not causing enough damage to stop the speeding vehicle.

Yelling into his hidden microphone he ordered, "Warren! Go-go-go! We need to apprehend that truck before he has a chance to get back to where Gibbs and Tony are! Our cargo was thrown from a moving vehicle – someone call for an Ambulance NOW!"

McGee was running across the street towards the victim the whole time he was simultaneously yelling out commands. He couldn't help feeling proud of himself for a brief second as to how well he was handling things so far. Coming to an abrupt halt near where the man had rolled and skidded along the pavement only stopping when he came to rest up against a curb, The man was trying to rise just as McGee arrived at his side pushing him gently back down to prevent him from rising.

"I'm Special Agent Timothy McGee with NCIS I'm here to help you sir so just take it easy and don't move until I can check you out a little bit, okay?"

"Uh . . . uh-yy-yeah okay." Kincaid replied.

McGee started making a visual inspection of the shaken dentist, cringing at the realization that the man's arms were tied behind his back, essentially preventing him from breaking his dramatic fall. After noticing that one of the man's arms also looked to be bleeding from road rash and appeared to be broken as well judging by the way it looked hanging at an abnormal angle, Tim realized that the man was more than likely in shock as he had yet to acknowledge the pain that the injury surely would have caused.

"Am I correct to assume that you are Dr. Michael Kincaid?" Tim asked, all business - while trying to keep the man from passing out or falling deeper into the throes of shock.

"Yea- . . . yes Sir. . . th-thaat I am. Oww ohhh my arm, oh Lord help me my arm hurts like hell." Kincaid started rolling on the ground from the pain, not being able to grab onto his damaged limb until the agent released his hands.

"Take it easy, take it easy. Please you have to calm down. Getting upset is only going to make you hurt worse – trust me, I've been there!" Tim soothed the now safe former captive even though he felt torn between a mixture of complex feelings regarding the shady dentist. One part of Tim wanted to like the man even though he hadn't even known him for more than a few minutes. There was just something about the man that Tim's gut was telling him he could trust – but on the other hand, this man may have been heavily responsible for Tony being kidnapped and injured. There was just too much information still missing to allow him to know one way or another so he decided to just focus on the job at hand, protecting the man on the ground from suffering any more harm until more details could be uncovered. Right now they needed him to help lead them to Tony and now also Gibbs.

While Tim very carefully helped the man lean forward slightly so he could reach back and untie the rope that was tightly holding Kincaid's chafed wrists together, the dentist seemed to rally a bit as he immediately started asking question after question.

"Agent M-McGee was it?" Kincaid asked before pausing to grimace from pain caused by the release of his trapped arms, causing the pain of his fractured arm to throb heavily in rhythm with the fast beating of his heart.

"Uhm . . . so d-did you wo- I mean do you work with Ton- uh Agent D-DiNozzo?"

"Oh, uh yeah I - **do**." McGee answered with emphasis on the last word. He still wasn't sure he could trust the man or trust himself not to go off on the man for his role in this current nightmare.

"He's a tough man that Tony, a good man. Look . . . I . . . I'm sorry. For getting him mixed up in all this – Agent uhh . . . McGeary was it?" Michael closed his eyes taking a deep breath and slowly blowing it out in an effort to control the fiery and stabbing pain flaring up worse than ever just above his elbow.

"No – its Mc**Gee**." Tim replied in a very straight forward and almost monotone manner, wondering for a brief second if Tony had put the man up to that name confusion – hoping silently that his partner was in good enough shape to be up to his usual pranks.

Kincaid noticed the intense look of worry and sadness that came over the young man next to him causing his feelings of guilt to intensify.

_**TO BE CONTINUED . . .**_

_**A/N - I mean that! ALL OF MY STORIES WILL BE CONTINUED AND I PROMISE TO WORK ON GETTING THEM ALL UPDATED FASTER AND MORE FREQUENTLY! You have my word. Stay tuned and please review if you are all still with me. **_


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